973.7L63   Lincoln,  Abraham,  1809-1865 
BL638e 

An  Evening  with  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


h  '^s~ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/eveningwithlincoOOIinc 


An  Evening  with 

LINCOLN 


SHERWIN  CODY  SCHOOL  OF  ENGLISH 

ROCHESTER.  N.  Y. 


Made  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


COPYRIGHT      1927 
BY    SHERWIN    CODY 


3L toS e 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Lincoln,  Life 7 

Ideal  American  Hero 7 

Lincoln's    Mother 10 

Journey  to   Indiana 11 

What   Lincoln    Read 14 

Strikes   Out   for   Himself 18 

Politics   and   Love 19 

Captain  in  the  Black  Hawk  War 21 

His  First  Speech 22 

Studies  Law 23 

"A  House  Divided  Against  Itself"  (Speech).  26 

Elected  President 27 

Lincoln's    Character 28 

Assassination    31 


Page 
His  Life  at  the  White  House 32 

Lincoln's   Domestic  Life 37 

An  Autobiographic   Letter 41 

Personal    Appearance 43 

Letters  and  Recollections 44 

Speeches    66 

Note   for   Law   Lecture 66 

Reply  to  Douglas  at  Peoria 68 

Farewell  Address  at  Springfield,  1861 74 

First  Inaugural 75 

Emancipation    Proclamation 89 

Gettysburg    Address 91 

Second  Inaugural 92 

Anecdotes    95 

Lincoln's    Pardons 95 

Lincoln's  Own  Stories 102 

Miscellaneous    Anecdotes 108 


LINCOLN 

Every  man  should  have  a  hero.  If  there  is  any- 
one who  confesses  he  has  none,  do  not  trust  him ; 
he  has  no  high  ideals,  he  does  not  wish  to  be  greater 
or  better  than  he  is,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  is  in  a 
fair  way  to  become  one  of  earth's  degenerates. 

There  is  no  nation  that  has  ever  attained  greatness 
without  its  list  of  heroes.  Greece  had  Achilles  and 
Socrates  and  Demosthenes,  Rome  had  Caesar,  France 
Napoleon,  Germany  Bismarck,  England  Alfred  the 
Great  and  Gladstone.  America  has  her  heroes,  too, 
whose  names  have  been  given  to  states  and  towns 
and  streets  all  over  the  land,  until  there  is  no  one 
who  has  not  heard  them  often.  Washington  was 
truly  the  Father  of  his  Country,  Franklin  stands  for 
American  wit  and  American  common  sense,  and 
Lincoln,  born  in  poverty,  brought  up  in  a  wildnerness, 
full  of  ignorance,  we  worship  as  the  savior  of  the 
Nation. 

Lincoln  the  Ideal  American  Hero. 

Lincoln  is  an  ideal  hero  for  Americans,  because  he 
came  from  the  very  lowest,  poorest,  meanest  stock, 
and  rose  to  the  very  highest  office  we  have  to  bestow. 
As  a  boy  and  as  a  young  man  he  was  so  like  one  of 
us  that  there  are  few  who  cannot  say  they  have  as 
many  natural  gifts  or  as  many  opportunities  as  he 
had.     He   was   plain,   he   was   honest,   he   had   good 


8  LINCOLN 

health,  and  he  was  determined  to  get  along  in  the 
world.  He  had  his  faults,  too.  He  did  not  like  to 
work  any  better  than  you  do,  he  had  a  weakness 
for  loafing  and  telling  stories,  and  he  was  not  as 
polite  and  polished  in  manners  as  his  wife  would 
have  liked  him  to  be.  Even  when  he  became  Presi- 
dent he  was  worth  but  a  few  hundred  dollars,  all 
invested  in  his  small  house  and  plain  furniture  in 
Springfield. 

But  money  does  not  make  a  man,  polished  man- 
ners do  not  make  him,  even  education  does  not  make 
great  a  man  whose  soul  is  small.  Lincoln  had  but 
a  few  months'  schooling  at  a  district  school,  and 
though  he  read  a  good  many  books  and  studied  law 
until  he  was  fairly  skilled  in  his  profession,  his  self- 
education  was  no  greater  than  may  easily  be  at- 
tained by  any  average  American. 

Lincoln  was  great  because  he  looked  at  every- 
thing so  honestly  and  with  such  healthy  common 
sense.  He  never  felt  himself  above  even  the  humblest 
of  his  fellows;  and  though  he  knew  he  could  think 
more  clearly  and  act  more  vigorously  than  most  of 
the  men  he  met,  he  did  not  fancy  that  to  be  a  cause 
for  "putting  on  airs."  He  was  always  the  same  Lin- 
coln, whether  President  in  the  White  House  or  a 
poor  railsplitter  on  a  Western  farm.  That  made  the 
people  love  him.  They  wanted  him  to  be  great, 
because  they  seemed  all  to  share  in  his  greatness ; 
they  wished  him  to  hold  high  office  because  they 
felt  they  could  trust  their  most  difficult  problems  to 
him ;  and  they  knew  that  however  high  he  rose  he 


LIFE  9 

would  be  just  as  ready  to  talk  with  them  and  help 
them  as  when  he  was  indeed  one  of  themselves. 

But  much  as  his  friends  liked  him  and  trusted 
him,  no  one  knew  how  really  great  he  was  until  sud- 
denly he  was  made  President  of  the  Union,  just  as 
the  Union  seemed  falling  to  pieces.  He  was  like  a 
giant  rock  that  has  rolled  down  from  a  mountain 
into  the  sea.  The  wind  blew  and  the  waters  dashed 
over  it,  and  though  it  had  come  down  so  suddenly 
it  seemed  as  if  it  had  been  there  forever.  The 
drowning  and  the  hopeless  clung  to  it,  the  boats  all 
anchored  under  its  lee,  and  though  the  timid  pre- 
dicted the  rock  would  fall  on  them  and  crush  them 
all,  it  stood  unmoved  till  the  gale  was  over. 

Here  is  a  hero  whom  we  all  may  imitate.  If  we 
have  gifts  and  opportunities  that  he  had  not,  let  us 
be  thankful  and  make  the  most  of  them  as  he  would 
have  done.  But  if  we  are  no  better  off  than  he,  as 
is  the  case  with  many  of  us,  let  us  take  courage  and 
fight  manfully  on  as  he  did;  and  while  we  may  not 
be  great  enough  to  fill  as  great  a  post  as  he  did,  in 
whatever  place  our  lot  may  fall  we  may  act  hon- 
orably, nobly,  and  honestly,  as  he  would  have  done. 
This  is  what  it  means  to  choose  an  honest  hero  and 
shape  our  lives  after  his.  Caesar  sacrificed  his  coun- 
try to  his  ambition,  and  Napoleon,  though  a  very 
great  man,  was  a  very  bad  one.  Lincoln  fought  a 
bloody  war,  but,  unlike  Napoleon,  he  fought  to  save. 
Even  Napoleon's  friends  came  in  time  to  hate  him. 
Today  the  South,  who  once  thought  Lincoln  their 
arch-enemy,  have  learned  in  a  measure  to  look  on 
him  as  their  best   friend;   and  he   is  no  longer  the 


10  LINCOLN 

hero  merely  of  the  West,  or  merely  of  the  North; 
he  is  the  hero  of  the  whole  nation,  and  perhaps  some 
day  he  will  be  the  hero  of  other  nations  that  have 
not  yet  heard  his  name. 

********* 

Poor  White  Trash. 

Lincoln  was  assassinated  more  than  sixty  years 
ago,  but  it  is  still  difficult  to  speak  of  him  without 
being  tempted  to  pronounce  a  sort  of  funeral  eulogy 
over  him.  We  shall  understand  him  better,  how- 
ever, if  we  follow  the  homely  details  of  his  early 
life. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  in  Hardin  county, 
Kentucky,  February  12,  1809.  His  parents  belonged 
to  that  class  known  in  the  South  as  "poor  white 
trash."  Lincoln  himself  was  very  reserved  about 
his  origin  and  his  early  life.  When  he  was  nom- 
inated for  the  Presidency  one  of  the  first  newspaper 
men  to  interivew  him  was  J.  L.  Scripps  of  the  Chi- 
cago Tribune,  who  wished  to  prepare  a  campaign 
biography  of  him.  "Why,  Scripps,"  said  he,  "it  is 
a  great  piece  of  folly  to  try  to  make  anything  out 
of  me  or  my  early  life.  It  can  all  be  condensed  into 
a  single  sentence,  and  that  sentence  you  will  find 
in  Gray's  'Elegy,' 

'The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor.' 
That's   all  my  life,   and  that's   all  you  or  any  one 
else  can  make  out  of  it." 

Lincoln's  Mother. 
Lincoln  seldom  spoke  of  his  mother,  Nancy  Hanks, 
as  she  is  usually  called.    Mr.  Herndon,  Lincoln's  law 


LIFE  11 

partner,  says  in  his  biography  that  only  once  did  the 
future  President  refer  in  his  hearing  to  his  origin. 
"It  was  about  1850,  when  he  and  I  were  driving  in 
his  one-horse  buggy  to  the  court  at  Menard  county, 

Illinois During  the  trip  he  spoke  for  the 

first  time  of  his  mother,  dwelling  on  her  character- 
istics, and  mentioning  or  enumerating  what  qualities 
he  inherited  from  her.  He  said,  among  other  things, 
that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Lucy  Hanks  and  a  well- 
bred  but  obscure  Virginia  farmer  or  planter;  and  he 
argued  that  from  this  source  came  his  power  of 
analysis,  his  logic,  his  mental  activity,  his  ambition, 
and  all  the  qualities  that  distinguished  him  from  the 
other  members  and  descendants  of  the  Hanks  fam- 
ily." 

His  grandfather  on  his  father's  side  was  also 
named  Abraham.  This  Lincoln  (or  Linkhorn)  went 
from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  in  1780,  and  two  years 
later  was  killed  by  Indians,  "not  in  battle,"  his 
grandson  tells  us,  "but  by  stealth  when  he  was 
laboring  to  open  a  farm  in  the  forest."  Abraham's 
son  Thomas,  father  of  the  President,  was  a  remark- 
ably shiftless  man,  and  was  always  moving  from 
one  farm  to  another,  leaving  his  debts  behind  him. 
Lincoln  worked  on  the  farm  with  his  father  until 
he  was  grown  up;  but  he  had  little  respect  for  him, 
and  in  later  years  did  not  often  see  him. 

The  Journey  to  Indiana. 

Abraham  had  an  older  sister  Sarah.  When  she 
was  seven  years  old  they  moved  to  Indiana,  where 
in  the  wilderness  his  father  had  purchased  a  farm 


12  LINCOLN 

of  the  Government  for  two  dollars  an  acre.  He 
brought  his  carpenter's  tools  and  a  quantity  of  whis- 
key down  Rolling  Fork  Creek  on  a  crazy  flatboat  he 
had  built  himself.  When  he  reached  the  Ohio  River 
the  boat  upset  one  day,  and  all  his  goods  went  to 
the  bottom;  but  he  got  them  out  again,  by  dint  of 
patient  fishing;  and  leaving  them  in  care  of  a  farmer 
and  selling  his  boat,  he  secured  his  farm  and  walked 
back  to  get  his  family,  whom  he  brought  on  in  a 
borrowed  wagon.  In  the  woods  they  built  what  was 
called  a  half-faced  camp,  being  enclosed  on  all  sides 
but  one.  It  had  neither  floor,  door,  nor  windows. 
In  this  hovel  they  lived  for  a  year,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  friends  and  relatives  joined  them,  to 
whom  they  gave  up  the  "half-faced  camp,"  moving 
into  a  more  pretentious  cabin.  "It  was  of  hewed 
logs,  and  was  eighteen  feet  square.  It  was  high 
enough  to  admit  of  a  loft,  where  Abe  slept,  and  to 
which  he  ascended  each  night  by  means  of  pegs 
driven  in  the  wall.  The  rude  furniture  was  in  keep- 
ing with  the  surroundings.  Three  legged  stools  an- 
swered for  chairs.  The  bedstead,  made  of  poles 
fastened  in  the  cracks  of  the  logs  on  one  side,  and 
supported  by  a  crotched  stick  driven  in  the  ground 
on  the  other,  was  covered  with  skins,  leaves  and 
old  clothes.  A  table  of  the  same  finish  as  the  stools, 
a  few  pewter  dishes,  a  Dutch  oven,  and  a  skillet  com- 
pleted the  household  outfit." 

Here  Lincoln  spent  his  boyhood.  One  day  they 
had  only  roasted  potatoes  for  dinner.  As  usual  the 
father  asked  a  blessing.    Little  Abe  looked  up,  and 


LIFE  13 

remarked  irreverently  but  very  drolly,  "Dad,  I  call 
these  mighty  poor  blessings." 

The  boy  was  somewhat  mischievous,  too.  He 
used  to  like  to  go  coon  hunting  with  the  other  boys. 
There  was,  however,  a  little  yellow  dog  that  would 
always  bark  when  they  tried  to  slip  away.  One 
night,  to  prevent  that,  they  carried  the  dog  with 
them.  They  got  their  coon  and  killed  him,  and 
then  for  the  fun  of  the  thing  sewed  the  coon's  hide 
on  the  yellow  dog.  The  dog  didn't  like  the  operation 
and  as  soon  as  he  was  let  loose  made  a  beeline  for 
home.  Bigger  dogs,  scenting  coon,  followed  him, 
and,  perahps  mistaking  him  for  a  real  coon,  killed 
him.  The  next  morning  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  father, 
found  his  yellow  dog  lying  dead  in  the  yard  with  the 
coonskin  on  him.  He  was  very  angry,  but  the  boys 
knew  that  yellow  Joe  would  never  sound  the  call 
again  when  they  started  on  a  coon  hunt. 

Scarcely  two  years  had  passed  when  Nancy  Lin- 
coln died  of  what  was  called  "the  milk-sick."  Their 
neighbors  Betsey  and  Thomas  Sparrow  died  of  the 
same  disease,  and  even  the  cattle  were  affected  by 
this  strange  sickness.  Mrs.  Lincoln  knew  she  was 
going  to  die,  and  placing  her  feeble  hands  on  little 
Abe's  head  she  said,  "Be  good  to  father  and  sister"; 
to  all  she  said,  "Be  good  to  one  another,"  and  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  they  might  live,  as  they  had 
been  taught  by  her,  to  love  their  kindred  and  wor- 
ship God.  'She  had  done  her  work  in  this  world. 
Stoop-shouldered,  thin-breasted,  sad, — at  times  mis- 
erable,— without  prospect  of  any  betterment  in  her 
condition,  she  passed  from  earth,  little  dreaming  of 


14  LINCOLN 

the  grand  future  that  lay  in  store  for  the  ragged, 
hapless  little  boy  who  stood  at  her  bedside  in  the 
last  days  of  her  life." 

A  Dreary  Life. 

What  a  life  little  Abe  and  his  sister  lived  after 
this  can  be  better  imagined  than  told.  It  was  dreary 
in  the  extreme.  But  in  the  spring  Thomas  Lincoln 
went  back  to  Kentucky  and  married  an  old  sweet- 
heart, Sally  Bush,  who  was  a  widow.  This  is  the 
way  Thomas  proposed :  "Miss  Johnston,  I  have  no 
wife  and  you  no  husband.  I  came  a-purpose  to 
marry  you.  I  knowed  you  from  a  gal  and  you 
knowed  me  from  a  boy.  I've  no  time  to  lose;  and 
if  you're  willin',  let  it  be  done  straight  off."  She 
replied  that  she  could  not  marry  at  once,  as  she  had 
some  debts  to  pay.  He  said,  "Give  me  the  list  of 
them."  He  got  the  list  and  paid  them  that  evening. 
The  next  morning  they  were  married. 

The  new  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  a  good  stock  of  house- 
hold furniture,  and  took  it  with  her  to  Indiana.  For 
the  first  time  in  their  lives  Sarah  and  Abe  had  a 
comfortable  bed  to  sleep  on.  They  had  also  found 
a  new  mother,  and  learned  to  love  her  even  more 
than  their  own.  She  also  brought  into  the  family  her 
own  three  children,  two  girls  and  a  boy,  with  whom 
the  Lincolns  lived  in  perfect  accord.  She  was  espe- 
cially kind  to  Abe,  and  when  she  was  old  and  pen- 
niless he  gave  her  a  farm,  on  which  she  died  in  1869, 
five  years  after  he  himself  had  gone  to  his  account. 
What   Lincoln   Read. 

So  the  boy  grew  up,  attending  school  a  few  months 


LIFE  15 

each  year,  working  on  his  father's  farm,  and  reading 
when  he  could,  often  lying  at  full  length  on  the  floor 
before  the  fire,  which  gave  the  only  light,  for  the 
Lincolns  were  too  poor  to  afford  candle  or  lamp. 
There  were  few  books  in  those  days.  Lincoln  read 
the  Bible,  "Aesop's  Fables,"  "Robinson  Crusoe," 
Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  a  "History  of  the 
United  States,"  and  Weems'  "Life  of  Washington." 
The  last-named  book  he  borrowed  from  a  close- 
fisted  neighbor  named  Josiah  Crawford.  He  laid  it 
on  a  little  shelf  in  the  cabin,  near  which  there  hap- 
pened to  be  a  crack  between  the  logs.  One  night  a 
storm  came  up  and  the  covers  of  the  book  got  wet. 
Crawford,  whom  the  boys  called  "Old  Blue  Nose," 
assessed  the  injury  at  seventy-five  cents.  Abe  did 
not  have  the  money,  but  set  to  work  and  pulled 
fodder   for  three  days  to  pay  off  the  debt 

He  was  over  six  feet  before  he  was  seventeen,  and 
when  he  attained  his  growth  he  was  six  feet  four 
inches,  and  proportionately  strong.  He  was  a  great 
story-teller,  and  always  had  his  joke;  but  he  liked 
to  read  and  study  much  better  than  he  did  to  work. 
The  farmers  sometimes  thought  him  lazy,  for  "his 
chief  delight  was  to  lie  down  under  the  shade  of 
some  inviting  tree  to  read  and  study.  At  night, 
lying  on  his  stomach  in  front  of  the  open  fireplace, 
with  a  piece  of  charcoal  he  would  cipher  on  a  broad 
wooden  shovel.  When  the  latter  was  covered  over 
on  both  sides  he  would  take  his  father's  drawing 
knife  or  a  plane  and  shave  it  off  clean,  ready  for  the 
next  day."  Says  his  cousin  John  Hanks:  "When 
Abe   and   I    returned   to   the   house    from   work   he 


16  LINCOLN 

would  go  to  the  cupboard,  snatch  a  piece  of  corn 
bread,  sit  down,  take  a  book,  cock  his  legs  up  as 
high  as  his  head,  and  read.  We  grubbed,  plowed, 
mowed  and  worked  together  barefooted  in  the  field. 
Whenever  Abe  had  a  chance  in  the  field  while  at 
work,  or  at  the  house,  he  would  stop  and  read." 

One  of  Lincoln's  early  delights  was  going  to  mill, 
where  was  ground  the  corn  which  formed  the  prin- 
cipal food  of  the  family.  The  mill  had  a  long  arm, 
to  which  each  customer  hitched  his  horse,  and 
driving  it  round  and  round,  ground  his  own  corn. 
One  day  Lincoln's  turn  did  not  come  till  nearly  night. 
The  old  flea-bitten  gray  mare  was  rather  lazy,  and 
as  he  sat  on  the  arm  he  kept  urging  her  to  go  faster, 
crying,  "Get  up,  you  old  hussy."  The  mare  bore  it 
for  a  while,  but  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  one  of 
these  exclamations,  she  let  her  hoof  fly  and  hit  him 
in  the  forehead,  knocking  him  senseless.  The  miller 
picked  up  the  lifeless  boy  and  sent  for  his  father, 
who  came  and  took  him  home  in  a  wagon.  He  lay 
all  night  unconscious,  but  toward  morning  began  to 
show  signs  of  recovering.  As  his  blood  began  to 
flow  through  his  veins  once  more,  he  awoke  and 
blurted  out,  "you  old  hussy,"  thus  finishing  the 
phrase  he  had  begun  when  the  mare's  hoof  struck 
him.  He  always  regarded  this  as  a  remarkable  oc- 
currence in  his  life. 

Pioneer  Social  Life. 

The  place  in  which  Lincoln's  early  life  was  spent 
was  known  as  Gentry ville.  The  social  life  of  the 
people  centered  about  the  church,  which  they  would 
often   go   eight   or    ten    miles    to    attend,    sometimes 


LIFE  17 

staying  over  until  the  next  day.  Says  Mr.  Herndon, 
"The  old  men  starting  from  the  fields  and  out  of 
the  woods  would  carry  their  guns  on  their  shoul- 
ders and  go  with  the  women.  They  dressed  in  deer- 
skin pants,  moccasins,  and  coarse  hunting  shirts — 
the  latter  usually  fastened  with  a  belt  or  leather 
strap.  Arriving  at  the  house  where  the  services 
were  to  be  held  they  would  recite  to  each  other 
thrilling  stories  of  their  hunting  exploits,  and  smoke 
their  pipes  with  the  old  ladies.  They  were  treated, 
and  treated  each  other,  with  the  utmost  kindness. 
A  bottle  of  liquor,  a  pitcher  of  water,  sugar,  and 
glasses  were  set  out  for  them ;  also  a  basket  of 
apples  or  turnips,  with  now  and  then  a  pie  or  cake. 
Thus  they  regaled  themselves  until  the  preacher 
found  himself  in  condition  to  begin.  The  latter, 
having  also  partaken  freely  of  the  refreshments 
provided,  would  "take  off  his  collar,  read  his  text, 
and  preach  and  pound  till  the  sweat,  produced  alike 
by  his  exertions  and  the  exhilarating  effects  of  the 
toddy,  rolled  from  his  face  in  great  drops.  Shaking 
hands  and  singing  ended  the  service." 

At  nineteen  Lincoln  grew  restless  and  wanted  to 
leave  his  father's  home;  but  a  friend  advised  against 
it,  and  soon  after  he  had  an  opportunity  to  join 
another  friend  in  taking  a  flat-boat  loaded  with  meat 
and  grain  on  a  trading  expedition  to  New  Orleans. 
Here  on  a  second  journey  made  a  few  years  later 
he  attended  a  slave-market.  He  saw  a  girl  put  on 
sale.  The  auctioneer  trotted  her  up  and  down,  and 
the  men  pinched  her  flesh  and  observed  her  gait  as 
if  she  had  been  a  fine-bred  mare  instead  of  a  human 


18  LINCOLN 

being.  Turning  away  from  the  scene  in  disgust,  he 
then  and  there  conceived  a  deep-rooted  hatred  for 
the  institution  of  slavery;  and  though  afterward  he 
showed  great  tolerance  toward  the  slave-owners, 
and  never  wished  to  deprive  them  of  their  property 
without  compensation,  he  felt  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  a  violation  of  the  essential  spirit  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

Soon  after  his  return  his  father  removed  with  all 
his  family  to  Macon  county,  Illinois.  One  incident 
of  the  journey  is  worth  relating.  They  took  a  little 
dog  with  them,  which  trotted  along  behind  the  ox 
wagon.  One  day  it  fell  behind  and  failed  to  catch 
up  till  after  they  had  crossed  a  stream.  Soon  they 
saw  him  on  the  opposite  bank,  whining  and  jumping 
about  in  great  distress.  As  the  stream  was  partly 
frozen  and  the  water  was  running  over  the  edges  of 
the  ice,  the  dog  was  afraid  to  cross.  The  majority 
decided  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  go  back 
merely  for  a  dog,  "but,"  says  Lincoln  himself  in 
telling  the  story,  "I  could  not  endure  the  idea  of 
abandoning  even  a  dog.  Pulling  off  shoes  and  socks 
I  waded  across  the  stream  and  triumphantly  returned 
with  the  shivering  animal  under  my  arm.  His  frantic 
leaps  of  joy  and  other  evidences  of  a  dog's  grati- 
tude amply  repaid  me  for  all  the  exposure  I  had 
undergone." 

Strikes  Out  for  Himself. 

He  helped  his  father  and  the  others  hew  out  the 
logs  from  which  their  house  was  to  be  built,  and 
split   the   rails   for   the    fences;    but   as   he   had   now 


Llbh.  19 

become  of  age,  he  felt  that  it  was  time  to  strike  out 
for   himself. 

He  worked  within  sight  of  home  for  a  while,  and 
then  accepted  an  offer  from  one  Denton  Offut  to 
take  a  boat  load  of  stock  and  provisions  down  to 
New  Orleans.  He  and  John  Hanks  made  their  way 
to  Springfield.  As  Mr.  Offut  had  no  boat  ready, 
they  set  to  work  and  built  one  themselves.  At  New 
Salem  their  boat  stuck  on  a  dam,  where  it  hung  for 
a  day  and  a  night.  It  was  partly  filled  with  water. 
They  unloaded  it,  but  the  water  kept  it  from  clearing 
the  dam,  though  one  end  projected  over  the  edge. 
Lincoln  devised  the  simple  expedient  of  rolling  the 
barrels  forward  and  boring  a  hole  in  the  bottom  of 
the  boat  at  the  end  which  stuck  over  the  dam.  Of 
course  the  water  ran  out  and  the  boat  went  over 
easily.  Offut  thought  this  was  wonderful  ingenuity, 
and  said  he  would  build  a  steamboat  which  should 
have  rollers  for  shoals  and  dams,  runners  for  ice, 
and  with  Lincoln  in  charge  "By  thunder,  she'd  have 
to  go." 

A  little  farther  down  they  had  to  take  on  some 
pigs.  The  swine  refused  to  be  driven  aboard, 
always  running  back  just  as  they  seemed  to  be  on 
the  point  of  going  over  the  gangplank.  Lincoln  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  sewing  up  their  eyes ;  but  after 
that  was  done  they  still  refused  to  go,  and  they  had 
to  catch  the  pigs  one  by  one  and  carry  them  aboard. 

Politics  and  Love. 

On  his  return  from  New  Orleans  he  promised  to 
act  as  clerk  for  Denton  Offut,  who  proposed  to  open 


20  LINCOLN 

a  store  at  New  Salem.  He  described  himself  at 
this  time  as  a  piece  of  floating  driftwood,  that  after 
the  winter  of  deep  snow  had  come  down  the  river 
with  the  freshet;  borne  along  by  the  swelling  waters, 
and  aimlessly  floating  about,  he  had  accidentally 
lodged  at  New  Salem.  Here  he  was  to  make  his 
first  efforts  as  a  speaker  and  a  politician;  here  he 
met  the  girl  with  whom  he  fell  in  love,  whose  early 
death  first  called  out  that  melancholy  which  always 
brooded  over  him,  and  made  him  the  saddest  as  well 
as  the  drollest  of  men.  Here,  too,  he  first  made  his 
reputation  for  spinning  yarns,  with  which  he  was 
always  ready.  He  also  gained  the  respect  of  the 
whole  town  by  his  skill  in  wrestling.  It  happened 
that  a  few  miles  southwest  of  the  village  was  a 
strip  of  woods  known  as  Clary's  Grove.  The  boys 
who  lived  down  there  were  the  terrors  of  the  whole 
region.  Yet  they  were  also  ever  ready  to  fight  for 
the  defenceless,  or  for  any  one  who  could  command 
their  respect.  Their  leader  was  Jack  Armstrong, 
under  whom  they  were  in  the  habit  of  "cleaning  out" 
New  Salem  whenever  his  word  went  forth.  Offut 
maintained  that  Lincoln  "was  a  better  man"  than 
Jack  Armstrong,  and  arranged  a  bet  with  "Bill" 
Clary.  The  contest  was  to  be  a  friendly  one  fairly 
conducted,  and  all  New  Salem  turned  out  to  see  it. 
Even  to  this  day  the  people  of  New  Salem  (now 
scattered  far  and  wide,  for  New  Salem  no  longer 
exists)  tell  the  exciting  scenes  of  that  day;  how 
Lincoln,  sudden Iv  enraged  at  a  suspicion  of  foul 
tactics,  fairlv  lifted  the  great  bully  from  the  ground 
by  the  throat  and   shook  him   like  a   rag;   and  how 


LIFE  21 

from  that  day  the  Clary  Grove  boys  were  his  firm 
friends  and  supporters. 

Lincoln  at  this  time  weighed  two  hundred  and 
fourteen  pounds,  and  had  arms  so  long  and  muscles 
so  wiry  that  he  could  throw  a  cannon  ball  or  maul 
farther  than  any  one  else,  while  we  hear  that  he 
once  raised  a  barrel  of  whiskey  from  the  ground 
and  drank  from  the  bunghole. 

But  this  young  giant  had  a  strong  head  and  a  soft 
heart,  and  many  friends  of  a  character  very  different 
from  the  Clary  Grove  boys.  Among  these  was  Men- 
tor Graham,  the  schoolmaster,  on  whose  advice  he 
hunted  up  a  man  named  Ganer,  who  was  said  to  be 
the  owner  of  a  Kirkham's  grammar.  After  a  walk 
of  several  miles  he  returned  to  the  store  where  he 
was  clerking  with  the  book  under  his  arm.  Some- 
times he  would  lie  at  full  length  on  the  counter,  his 
head  propped  up  by  rolls  of  calico;  or  he  would 
steal  away  to  the  shade  of  a  nearby  tree,  where  he 
tried  patiently  and  persistently  to  master  the  rules  of 
grammar.  How  well  he  succeeded  in  mastering  the 
English  language  we  may  know  when  we  remember 
that  in  the  Gettysburg  speech  we  have  one  of  the 
most  perfect  specimens  of  oratory  in  the  history  of 
any  language. 

Goes  to  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

Lincoln  did  not  make  a  good  clerk.  Offut's  store 
failed,  and  Lincoln  enlisted  for  the  Black  Hawk 
war.  He  was  elected  captain  of  the  company,  an 
honor  which  he  appreciated;  but  he  knew  little  of 
military   tactics.     Once   when  he   was   marching   the 


22  LINCOLN 

company  twenty  abreast  they  came  to  a  narrow  gate. 
Lincoln  could  not  remember  the  military  order  for 
"turning  the  company  endwise."  The  situation  was 
becoming  decidedly  embarrassing  when  he  faced  the 
lines  and  called,  "Halt!  This  company  will  break 
ranks  for  two  minutes  and  form  again  on  the  other 
side  of  the  gate."  The  company  did  as  ordered, 
and  thought  none  the  less  of  their  leader.  His  com- 
pany was  somewhat  unruly,  and  for  their  misdeeds 
he  was  once  deprived  of  his  sword  for  a  day,  and 
at  another  time  he  was  made  to  carry  a  wooden 
sword  for  two  days. 

His  First  Speech. 

When  he  came  home  he  decided  to  run  for  the 
legislature.  This  is  the  way  in  which  he  opened  his 
campaign. 

"Fellow  Citizens,  I  presume  you  all  know  who  I 
am.  I  am  humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  have  been 
solicited  by  many  friends  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  legislature.  My  politics  are  short  and  sweet,  like 
the  old  woman's  dance.  I  am  in  favor  of  a  national 
bank.  I  am  in  favor  of  the  internal  improvement 
system  and  a  high  protective  tariff.  These  are  my 
sentiments  and  political  principles.  If  elected  I 
shall  be  thankful;  if  not  it  will  be  all  the  same." 
Of  the  208  votes  in  New  Salem,  Lincoln  received  all 
but  three.  He  was  not  elected  this  time,  however. 
It  was  the  only  time  he  was  ever  defeated  at  the 
hands  of  the  people. 

He  now  bought  an  interest  in  a  country  store,  and 
started  in  business  for  himself;  but  he  did  not  sue- 


LIFE  23 

ceed,  and  accumulated  debts  which  he  was  many 
years  in  paying  off  in  full.  He  paid  every  penny  he 
owed,   however. 

Studies  Law. 

As  he  had  nothing  to  do  after  the  failure  of  the 
business  he  decided  to  study  law.  He  arranged  to 
get  board  on  credit,  borrowed  some  law  books  and 
went  to  work.  His  friends  remember  him  at  this 
time  lying  on  his  back  under  a  tree,  putting  his  feet 
up  the  tree,  as  he  pored  over  a  volume  of  Chitty 
or  Blackstone.  He  had  been  appointed  postmaster, 
but  this  took  little  of  his  time,  and  as  he  went  about 
carrying  the  letters  in  his  hat,  he  was  able  to  give 
most  of  his  thought  and  attention  to  the  study  of  law. 
He  also  did  odd  jobs  for  the  farmers.  One  day 
when  he  was  splitting  rails  a  friend  came  out  and 
told  him  he  had  been  appointed  deputy  surveyor. 
As  he  himself  was  a  Whig  and  he  knew  the  man 
who  offered  the  appointment  to  be  a  Democrat,  he 
first  asked  if  he  were  to  be  perfectly  free  to  express 
his  political  opinions  should  he  accept  the  office. 
Said  he,  "If  my  sentiments  or  even  expression  of 
them  is  to  be  abridged  in  any  way  I  would  not 
have  it  or  any  other  office."  He  was  wretchedly 
poor  and  overwhelmed  with  debt,  while  trying  to 
study  law  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances,  yet 
lie  had  the  courage  to  assert  his  independence !  What 
better  proof  that  he  was  an  honest  man  to  the  very 
core! 

He  knew  nothing  of  surveying;  but  he  soon 
learned  it,  as  he  did  everything  to  which  he  turned 


24  LINCOLN 

his  mind.   From  that  time  he  was  always  able  to  earn 
a   comfortable    living. 

His   Political  Career.    • 

The  subsequent  events  of  his  life  may  be  briefly 
told.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  was 
re-elected  a  number  of  times.  As  soon  as  he  was 
able  he  opened  a  law  office  in  Springfield,  where  he 
continued  in  practice  until  he  was  elected  President. 
He  was  for  one  term  a  member  of  Congress. 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  not  great  in  the  sense  that 
Webster  was,  but  he  had  a  commonsense,  straight- 
forward way  of  stating  his  case  that  always  gained 
the  confidence  of  judge  and  jury.  He  never  took 
up  a  case  unless  he  believed  it  was  right,  and  many 
a  poor  man  or  woman's  cause  he  pleaded  for  nothing. 

When  the  Republican  party  was  organized  in  1856, 
Lincoln,  though  nearly  fifty  years  of  age,  was  merely 
a  fairly  successful  lawyer  and  local  politician.  He 
was  ambitious,  and  wished  to  be  sent  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  but  he  was  unknown  outside  of  Illi- 
nois. At  the  State  convention  that  year  he  stated 
his  views,  but  his  friends  persuaded  him  to  withdraw 
what  he  had  said  for  the  time  being.  Two  years 
passed.  In  1858  he  was  nominated  by  the  Repub- 
licans as  their  candidate  for  United  States  Senator. 
Stephen  Douglas  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats. 
Lincoln  knew  he  would  be  nominated,  and  had  pre- 
pared his  speech  and  had  showed  it  to  a  number  of 
friends.  They  all  advised  him  to  omit  the  first  para- 
graph, told  him  it  would  cost  him  his  election,  and 
that  in  every  way  it  was  unwise.   He  replied  quietly, 


LIFE  25 

"Friends,  this  thing  has  been  retarded  long  enough. 
The  time  has  come  when  these  sentiments  should  be 
uttered;  and  if  it  is  decreed  that  I  should  go  down 
because  of  this  speech,  then  let  me  go  down  linked 
to  the  truth— let  me  die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is 
just  and  right."  When  he  spoke  those  words  he 
was  no  longer  an  ambitious  politician ;  he  had  begun 
to  be  great,  as  he  had  never  been  before;  for  that 
first  made  it  possible  for  him  to  become  President, 
or  rather,  let  us  say,  those  firm,  honest  words  first 
convinced  thinking  men  that  here  was  the  one  man 
the  nation  could  trust  in  its  hour  of  need.  The 
famous  joint  debate  with  Douglas  followed,  and 
Douglas  was  elected  Senator;  but  already  Lincoln 
looked  forward  to  the  Presidency. 

To  understand  what  he  did,  and  why  he  is  so 
great,  we  must  consider  the  conditions  and  the 
times.  The  question  of  slavery  no  longer  interests 
us,  for  it  has  been  settled  forever.  But  in  1858  it 
was  the  great  question  for  the  nation.  The  South 
wanted  slavery,  felt  that  it  could  not  exist  without 
it,  and  was  determined  to  stick  to  it  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. In  the  North  there  was  a  small  but 
very  active  part  of  Abolitionists  that  hated  it,  and 
was  determined  to  fight  it  to  the  bitter  end.  Most 
of  the  people  in  the  North  did  not  believe  in  slavery, 
but  wished  to  let  the  Southern  people  have  their  own 
way.  So  for  fifty  years  the  great  men  in  Congress 
wrangled  and  struggled  to  find  some  compromise, 
some  halfway  plan  that  would  satisfy  both  North 
and  South.  Henry  Clay  had  his  plan;  Webster  de- 
livered some  of  his  greatest  speeches  in  this  turbu- 


26  LINCOLN 

lent  discussion.  Just  here  a  new  question  arose. 
The  South  said,  We  are  tired  of  this  fight.  Unless 
you  let  us  alone  we  will  withdraw  from  the  Union — 
we  will  secede.  Webster's  greatest  speech  was  made 
on  the  proposition  that  no  state  could  withdraw  from 
the  Union. 

"A  House  Divided  Against  Itself." 

Such  were  the  conditions  when  Lincoln  stood  up 
before  the  convention  at  Springfield,  111.,  and  said : 

"Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention. 
If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither 
we  are  tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to  do  and 
how  to  do  it.  We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year 
since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the  avowed  object 
and  confident  promise  of  putting  an  end  to  slavery 
agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  that  policy,  that 
agitation  not  only  has  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly 
augmented.  In  my  opinion  it  will  not  cease  until 
a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  'A  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this 
government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave 
and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis- 
solved— I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — but  I  do 
expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become 
all  one  thing  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents 
of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and 
place  it  where  the  public  mind  will  rest  in  the  belief 
that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction;  or 
its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  states  old  as  well  as  new, 
North  as  well  as  South." 


LIFE  27 

What  Lincoln  said  was  true.  There  could  be  no 
peace  till  the  battle  had  been  fought  out  and  slavery 
had  won  or  been  beaten  and  driven  from  the  coun- 
try. Lincoln  did  not  wish  war;  but  if  war  must 
come  he  was  ready   for  it. 

Elected   President. 

After  the  Douglas  debates  he  made  a  great  speech 
at  the  Cooper  Union,  in  New  York,  at  which  William 
Cullen  Bryant  presided;  and  from  this  moment  he 
knew  that  he  might  become  President.  He  was 
elected  in  1860,  and  was  inaugurated  March  4,  1861. 

At  that  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  country  was  fall- 
ing to  pieces,  that  the  great  and  glorious  nation 
founded  by  Washington  and  Franklin  and  Adams 
and  Patrick  Henry  and  the  rest  was  about  to  come 
to  an  end.  Less  than  six  weeks  after  Lincoln  en- 
tered the  White  House,  on  April  14,  1861,  Fort 
Sumter  surrendered.  War  had  begun;  brother  was 
fighting  brother;  one  after  another  the  Southern 
states  withdrew  and  set  up  a  government  of  their 
own.  At  first  Lincoln  did  not  very  well  comprehend 
the  gigantic  task  laid  upon  him;  but  he  gradually 
realized  it,  and  when  he  sent  his  second  annual 
message  to  Congress  he  could  say,  "Fellow  citizens, 
we  cannot  escape  history.  We  of  this  Congress  and 
this  administration  will  be  remembered  in  spite  of 
ourselves.  No  personal  significance  or  insignificance 
can  spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The  fiery  trial 
through  which  we  pass  will  light  us  down,  in  honor 
or  dishonor,  to  the  latest  generations.  We  say  we 
are  for  the  Union.    The  world  will  not   forget  that 


23  LINCOLN 

we  say  this.  We  know  how  to  save  the  Union.  The 
world  knows  we  know  how  to  save  it.  We,  even 
we,  here —  hold  the  power  and  bear  the  responsibility. 
In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave,  we  assure  freedom 
to  the  free— honorably  alike  in  what  we  give  and 
what  we  preserve.  We  shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly 
lose,  the  last,  best  hope  of  earth." 

Lincoln's   Character. 

And  this  was  the  spirit  in  which  he  himself  pro- 
ceeded to  do  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty. 
"Our  common  country  is  in  great  peril,  demanding 
the  loftiest  views  and  boldest  action  to  bring  a 
speedy  relief.  Once  relieved,  its  form  of  govern- 
ment is  saved  to  the  world;  its  beloved  history  and 
cherished  memories  are  vindicated,  and  its  happy 
future  fully  assured  and  rendered  inconceivably 
grand 

"I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I 
am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  when- 
ever I  shall  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause. 
I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors, 
and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  are 
shown  to  be  true  views." 

In  a  letter  to  Reverdy  Johnson  he  said,  "I  am  a  pa- 
tient man — always  willing  to  forgive  on  Christian 
terms  of  repentance,  and  also  to  give  ample  time  for 
repentance.  Still,  I  must  save  this  government,  if 
possible.  What  I  cannot  do,  of  course,  I  will  not 
do;  but  it  may  as  well  be  understood,  once  for 
all,  that  I  shall  not  surrender  this  game  leaving  any 
available  card  unplayed." 


LIFE  29 

In  such  utterances  we  see  how  cool  and  calm  he 
was.  He  did  not  get  nervous  or  excited,  he  never 
tried  to  do  more  than  he  could,  and  after  days  of 
darkness  and  doubt  and  defeat,  victory  came  at  last, 
the  nation  was  saved,  and  peace  now  unites  the 
whole  country  in  a  common  brotherhood. 

During  the  time  of  his  Presidency,  Lincoln  seldom 
wrote  to  his  friends,  or  indulged  in  any  pleasures 
or  business  of  his  own ;  but  he  did  tell  a  great  many 
stories  to  those  who  came  to  see  him.  It  is  i,aid 
that  in  1862,  when  the  North  was  plunged  in  gkom 
by  repeated  defeats,  an  Ohio  Congressman  went  to 
see  Lincoln,  who  at  once  began  a  funny  story. 

"Mr.  President,"  said  the  Congressman,  "I  lid 
not  come  here  this  morning  to  hear  stories;  it  is 
too  serious  a  time!" 

"Ashley,"  replied  Lincoln  quickly,  "sit  down!  I 
respect  you,  as  an  earnest,  sincere  man.  You  can- 
not be  more  anxious  than  I  have  been,  constantly, 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war;  and  I  say  to  you 
now,  that  were  it  not  for  this  occasional  vent,  I 
should  die!" 

Nothing  endeared  President  Lincoln  so  much  to 
the  hearts  of  the  people  as  his  tenderness  toward  the 
unfortunate.  He  was  always  pardoning  deserters 
and  spies  condemned  to  death.  To  a  friend  he  once 
said,  "Some  of  our  generals  complain  that  I  impair 
discipline  and  subordination  in  the  army  by  my 
pardons  and  respites,  but  it  makes  me  rested,  after 
a  hard  day's  work,  if  I  can  find  some  good  excuse 
for  saving  a  man's  life." 

A   father   once  came  to  Lincoln   to   intercede   for 


30  LINCOLN 

the  life  of  his  son.  Lincoln  found  it  impossible  to 
grant  a  direct  pardon,  but  wrote,  "Job  Smith  is  not 
to  be  shot  till  further  orders  from  me."  The  anxious 
father  was  not  satisfied  with  this  and  begged  for 
something  more  definite.  "Well,  my  old  friend,"  said 
Lincoln,  "I  see  you  are  not  very  well  acquainted 
with  me.  If  your  son  never  looks  on  death  till  fur- 
ther orders  come  from  me  to  shoot  him,  he  will  live 
to  be  a  great  deal  older  than  Methusaleh." 

Once  when  Lincoln  had  pardoned  twenty-four  de- 
serters at  one  time,  all  of  whom  were  sentenced  to  be 
shot,  one  of  his  generals  objected  that  "Mercy  to  the 
few  is  cruelty  to  the  many."  Lincoln  replied,  "My 
general,  there  are  already  too  many  weeping  widows 
in  the  United  States.  For  God's  sake,  don't  ask  me 
to  add  to  the  number,  for  I  won't  do  it." 

The  war  was  fought  out  during  Lincoln's  first  term 
as  President.  Grant  won  his  victories  in  the  West, 
at  Vicksburg  and  other  places,  and  then  led  the  army 
against  Richmond,  forcing  the  surrender  of  Lee. 
Lincoln's  renomination  was  a  foregone  conclusion ; 
but  to  the  convention  he  said  simply  that  he  knew 
of  no  reason  why  he  was  a  better  man  for  the 
Presidency  than  many  others,  but  like  the  old  Dutch 
farmer,  he  thought  it  best  "not  to  swop  horses  while 
crossing  a  stream." 

When  triumphantly  reelected,  he  turned  to  the 
South  with  words  of  kindness  and  affection,  bidding 
his  misguided  brethren  to  come  back  in  peace.  "With 
malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right, 
let  us  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  na- 


LIFE  31 

tion's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne 
the  battle  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphans,  to  do 
all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting 
peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

Assassination. 

Thus  he  spoke  in  his  inaugural  address.  Only  a 
few  weeks  later,  on  the  14th  of  April,  the  anniversary 
of  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter,  he  was  assassinated 
by  Wilkes  Booth,  the  actor.  Booth  was  a  hot- 
headed young  man,  and  with  other  Southern 
sympathizers  formed  a  plot  to  assassinate  all  the 
chief  men  and  overthrow  the  government.  Lincoln 
had  gone  to  the  theater  with  friends  for  an  evening's 
relaxation.  He  occupied  a  box,  into  the  back  of 
which  Booth  made  his  way.  At  what  he  conceived 
to  be  the  dramatic  moment  he  shot  the  President, 
and  leaped  upon  the  stage.  Unfortunately  for  him 
he  caught  his  foot  in  the  flag  which  draped  the  box 
and  sprained  his  ankle.  Nevertheless  he  stalked 
across  the  stage,  exclaiming  in  melodramatic  fash- 
ion, "Sic  semper  tyrannis"  "So  ever  with  tyrants  !" 
At  first  the  people  thought  this  part  of  the  play ; 
but  when  they  understood  what  had  been  done  all 
was  confusion. 

When  the  news  was  flashed  over  the  country  that 
Lincoln  had  been  assassinated,  it  seemed  as  if  a  sud- 
den pall  and  gloom  had  fallen  on  the  land,  as  when  it 
becomes  suddenly  dark  at  midday,  and  people  won- 
der if  the  world  is  coming  to  an  end.  For  four 
years  the  nation  had  rested  on  Lincoln,  depending 
on  him  to  carry  it  through ;  and  now  it  seemed  as  if 


32  LINCOLN 

the  glad  fruits  of  the  victories  of  a  four  years'  war 
were  about  to  be  lost,  and  the  country  would  fall 
into  confusion  and  anarchy  once  more. 

But  gradually  it  was  found  that  Lincoln's  spirit 
was  as  powerful  after  his  death  as  it  had  ever  been 
before;  and  it  has  been  growing  stronger  ever  since, 
until  we  realize  that  no  small  part  of  our  country's 
greatness  today  is  due  to  him. 

The  President's  Life  at  the  White  House. 

John  Hay,  one  of  Lincoln's  private  secretaries  and 
later  Roosevelt's  secretary  of  state,  has  given  us  an 
interesting  description  of  the  President's  life  at  the 
White  House  during  the  period  of  war. 

"The  President  rose  early,  as  his  sleep  was  light 
and  capricious.  In  the  summer,  when  he  lived  at 
the  Soldier's  Home,  he  would  take  his  frugal  break- 
fast and  ride  into  town  in  time  to  he  at  his  desk  at 
eight  o'clock.  He  began  to  receive  visits  nominally 
at  ten  o'clock,  but  long  before  that  hour  struck  the 
doors  were  besieged  by  anxious  crowds,  through 
whom  the  people  of  importance,  Senators  and  Mem- 
bers of  Congress,  elbowed  their  way  after  the  fashion 
which  still  survives.  On  days  when  the  Cabinet 
met — Tuesdays  and  Fridays — the  hour  of  noon  closed 
the  interviews  of  the  morning.  On  other  days  it 
was  the  President's  custom,  at  about  that  hour,  to 
order  the  doors  to  be  thrown  open  and  all  who  were 
waiting  to  be  admitted.  The  crowd  would  rush  in, 
throng  in  the  narrow  room,  and  one  by  one  would 
make  their  wants  known.  Some  came  merely  to 
shake   hands,   to   wish   him   Godspeed;    their  errand 


LIFE  33 

was  soon  done.  Others  came  asking  help  or 
mercy;  they  usually  pressed  forward,  careless  in 
their  pain  as  to  what  ears  should  overhear  their 
prayer.  But  there  were  many  who  lingered  in  the 
rear  and  leaned  against  the  wall,  hoping  each  to  be 
last,  that  they  might  in  tete-a-tete  unfold  their 
schemes  for  their  own  advantage  or  their  neighbor's 
hurt.  These  were  often  disconcerted  by  the  Presi- 
dent's loud  and  hearty,  'Well,  friend,  what  can  I  do 
for  you?'  which  compelled  them  to  speak,  or  retire 
and  wait  for  a  more  convenient  season.  The  in- 
ventors were  more  a  source  of  amusement  than  of 
annoyance.  They  were  usually  men  of  some  orig- 
inality of  character  not  infrequently  carried  to  ec- 
centricity. Lincoln  had  a  quick  apprehension  of 
mechanical  principles,  and  often  detected  a  flaw  in 
an  invention  which  the  contriver  had  overlooked. 
He  would  sometimes  go  into  the  waste  fields  that 
then  lay  south  of  the  Executive  Mansion  to  test  an 
experimental  gun  or  torpedo.  He  used  to  quote 
with  much  merriment  the  solemn  dictum  of  one 
rural  inventor  that  'a  gun  ought  not  rekyle;  if  it 
rekyles  at  all,  it  ought  to  rekyle  a  little  forrid/ 

"At  luncheon  time  he  had  literally  to  run  the 
gauntlet  through  the  corridors  between  his  office 
and  the  rooms  at  the  west  end  of  the  house  occupied 
by  the  family.  The  afternoon  wore  away  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  the  morning;  late  in  the  day 
he  usually  drove  out  for  an  hour's  airing;  at  six 
o'clock  he  dined.  He  was  one  of  the  most  ab- 
stemious of  men;  the  pleasures  of  the  table  had  few 
attractions  for  him.    His  breakfast  was  an  tgg  and 


34  LINCOLN 

a  cup  of  coffee;  at  luncheon  he  rarely  took  more 
than  a  biscuit  and  a  glass  of  milk,  a  plate  of  fruit 
in  its  season;  at  dinner  he  ate  sparingly  of  one  or 
two  courses.  He  drank  little  or  no  wine;  not  that 
he  remained  on  principle  a  total  abstainer,  as  he  was 
during  a  part  of  his  early  life  in  the  fervor  of  the 
'Washingtonian'  reform ;  but  he  never  cared  for 
wine  or  liquors  of  any  sort  and  never  used  tobacco. 
"There  was  little  gayety  in  the  Executive  House 
during  his  time.  It  was  an  epoch,  if  not  of  gloom, 
at  least  of  a  seriousness  too  intense  to  leave  room 
for  much  mirth.  There  were  the  usual  formal  en- 
tertainments, the  traditional  state  dinners  and  recep- 
tions, conducted  very  much  as  they  have  been  ever 
since.  The  great  public  receptions,  with  their  vast, 
rushing  multitudes  pouring  past  him  to  shake  hands, 
he  rather  enjoyed;  they  were  not  a  disagreeable 
task  to  him,  and  he  seemed  surprised  when  people 
commiserated  him  upon  them.  He  would  shake 
hands  with  thousands  of  people,  seemingly  uncon- 
scious of  what  he  was  doing,  murmuring  some 
monotonous  salutation  as  they  went  by,  his  eye  dim, 
his  thoughts  far  withdrawn;  then  suddenly  he  would 
see  some  familiar  face, — his  memory  for  faces  was 
very  good, — and  his  eye  would  brighten  and  his 
whole  form  grow  attentive;  he  would  greet  the 
visitor  with  a  hearty  grasp  and  a  ringing  word  and 
dismiss  him  with  a  cheery  laugh  that  filled  the  Blue 
Room  with  infectious  good  nature.  Many  people 
armed  themselves  with  an  appropriate  speech  to  be 
delivered  on  these  occasions,  but  unless  it  was  com- 
pressed into  the  smallest  possible  space,  it  never  was 


LIFE  35 

uttered;  the  crowd  would  jostle  the  peroration  out 
of  shape.  If  it  were  brief  enough,  and  hit  the  Presi- 
dent's fancy,  it  generally  received  a  swift  answer. 
One  night  an  elderly  gentleman  from  Buffalo  said, 
'Up  our  way  we  believe  in  God  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln,' to  which  the  President  replied,  shoving  him 
along  the  line,  'My  friend,  you  are  more  than  half 
right.' 

"During  the  first  years  of  the  administration  the 
house  was  made  lively  by  the  games  and  pranks  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  two  youngest  children,  William  and 
Thomas;  Robert,  the  eldest,  was  away  at  Harvard, 
only  coming  home  for  short  vacations.  Tho  two 
little  boys,  aged  eight  and  ten,  with  their  Western 
independence  and  enterprise,  kept  the  house  in  an 
uproar.  They  drove  their  tutor  wild  with  their  good- 
natured  disobedience;  they  organized  a  minstrel 
show  in  the  attic;  they  made  acquaintance  with  the 
office-seekers  and  became  the  hot  champions  of  the 
distressed.  William  was,  with  all  his  boyish  frolic, 
a  child  of  great  promise,  capable  of  close  applica- 
tion and  study.  He  had  a  fancy  for  drawing  up 
railway  time-tables,  and  would  conduct  an  imaginary 
train  from  Chicago  to  New  York  with  perfect  pre- 
cision. He  wrote  childish  verses,  which  sometimes 
attained  the  unmerited  honors  of  print.  But  this 
bright,  gentle,  and  studious  child  sickened  and  died 
in  February,  1862.  His  father  was  profoundly  moved 
by  his  death,  though  he  gave  no  outward  sign  of  his 
trouble,  but  kept  about  his  work  the  same  as  ever. 
His  bereaved  heart  seemed  afterwards  to  pour  out 
its    fullness    on    his   youngest    child.    '  Tad'    was    a 


36  LINCOLN 

merry,  warm-hearted,  kindly  little  boy,  perfectly  law- 
less, and  full  of  odd  fancies  and  inventions,  the 
'chartered  libertine'  of  the  Executive  Mansion.  He 
ran  continually  in  and  out  of  his  father's  cabinet, 
interrupting  his  gravest  labors  and  conversations 
with  his  bright,  rapid  and  very  imperfect  speech, — 
for  he  had  an  impediment  which  made  his  articulation 
almost  unintelligible  until  he  was  nearly  grown.  He 
would  perch  upon  his  father's  knee,  and  sometimes 
even  on  his  shoulder,  while  the  most  weighty  con- 
ferences were  going  on.  Sometimes,  escaping  from 
the  domestic  authorities,  he  would  take  refuge  in  that 
sanctuary  for  the  whole  evening,  dropping  to  sleep 
at  last  on  the  floor,  when  the  President  would  pick 
him  up  and  carry  him  tenderly  to  bed. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  spent  most  of  his  evenings  in  his 
office,  though  occasionally  he  remained  in  the  draw- 
ing-room after  dinner,  conversing  with  visitors  or 
listening  to  music,  for  which  he  liad  an  especial 
liking,  though  he  was  not  versed  in  the  science,  and 
preferred  simple  ballads  to  more  elaborate  composi- 
tions. In  his  office  he  was  not  often  suffered  to  be 
alone;  he  frequently  passed  the  evening  there  with 
a  few  friends  in  frank  and  free  conversation.  If 
the  company  was  all  of  one  sort  he  was  at  his  best; 
his  wit  and  rich  humor  had  full  play;  he  was  once 
more  the  Lincoln  of  the  Eighth  Circuit,  the  cheeriest 
of  talkers,  the  riskiest  of  story-tellers;  but  if  a 
stranger  came  in  he  put  on  in  an  instant  his  whole 
armor  of  dignity  and  reserve.  He  had  a  singular 
discernment  of  men;  he  would  talk  of  the  most  im- 
portant political  and  military  concerns  with  a  free- 


LIFE  37 

dom  which  often  amazed  his  intimates,  but  we  do 
not  recall  an  instance  in  which  his  confidence  was 
misplaced. 

"Where  only  one  or  two  were  present,  he  was 
fond  of  reading  aloud.  He  passed  many  of  the 
summer  evenings  in  this  way  when  occupying  his 
cottage  at  the  Soldiers'  Home. 

"He  read  Shakspere  more  than  all  other  writers 
together.  He  made  no  attempt  to  keep  pace  with 
the  ordinary  literature  of  the  day.  Sometimes  he 
read  a  scientific  work  with  keen  appreciation,  but  he 
pursued  no  systematic  course.  He  owed  less  to 
reading  than  most  men.  He  delighted  in  Burns;  of 
Thomas  Hood  he  was  also  excessively  fond.  He 
often  read  aloud  'The  Haunted  House.'  He  would 
go  to  bed  with  a  volume  of  Hood  in  his  hands,  and 
would  sometimes  rise  at  midnight  and,  traversing 
the  long  halls  of  the  Executive  Mansion  in  his  night- 
clothes,  would  come  to  his  secretary's  room  and 
read  aloud  something  that  especially  pleased  him. 
He  wanted  to  share  his  enjoyment  of  the  writer;  it 
was  dull  pleasure  for  him  to  laugh  alone.  He  read 
Bryant  and  Whittier  with  appreciation;  there  were 
many  poems  of  Holmes  that  he  read  with  intense 
relish.  'The  Last  Leaf  was  one  of  his  favorites; 
he  knew  it  by  heart,  and  used  often  to  repeat  it 
with  deep   feeling." 

Lincoln's  Domestic  Life. 

Lincoln's  relations  with  his  wife  were  peculiar.  He 
had  first  of  all  been  deeply  in  love  with  Anne  Rut- 
ledge,  and  her  death  had  cast  a  gloom  over  his  whole 


33  LINCOLN 

life.  After  that  he  paid  his  addresses  to  various 
young  ladies,  for  his  tender  heart  seemed  to  yearn 
for  domestic  life.  Each  in  turn  refused  him,  how- 
ever. At  last  he  met  in  Springfield  the  sister  of  the 
wife  of  a  political  comrade,  Ninian  W.  Edwards. 
Mary  Todd  came  of  a  more  or  less  aristocratic 
Southern  family,  was  well  educated,  and  refined  in 
manners  and  habits.  Lincoln  was  not;  but  she  was 
ambitious,  and  she  believed  he  had  a  political  future. 
Stephen  Douglas,  Lincoln's  superior  in  refinement 
and  education,  attempted  to  supplant  Lincoln,  but 
soon  dropped  out  of  the  race. 

Lincoln  was  never  sure  he  was  really  in  love  with 
Miss  Todd.  In  some  of  his  gloomy  moments  he 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  break  off  their 
engagement,  and  wrote  her  a  letter  telling  her  he 
did  not  think  he  loved  her.  He  showed  it  to  a 
friend,  who  threw  it  in  the  fire  and  told  Lincoln  to 
go  and  tell  her  face  to  face.  So  the  young  man  set 
off ;  but  he  did  not  return  for  some  hours. 

"Well,  old  fellow,  did  you  do  as  I  told  you  and 
you  promised?"  Speed  asked  when  his  friend  re- 
turned. 

"Yes,  I  did,"  responded  Lincoln,  "and  when  I  told 
Mary  I  did  not  love  her,  she  burst  into  tears,  and 
almost  springing  from  the  chair  and  wringing  her 
hands  as  if  in  an  agony,  said  something  about  the 
deceiver  being  himself  deceived."    Then  he  stopped. 

"And  what  else  did  you  say?"  inquired  Speed. 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,  Speed,  it  was  too  much  for 
me.  I  found  the  tears  trickling  down  my  own  cheeks. 
I  caught  her  in  my  arms  and  kissed  her." 


LIFE  39 

So  the  engagement  was  renewed  and  January  1, 
1841,  set  for  the  marriage.  All  Miss  Todd's  friends 
assembled,  the  house  was  decked  with  flowers,  and 
the  bride  in  her  wedding  veil  and  silks  waited  for 
the  bridegroom.  But  he  did  not  appear.  Messengers 
were  sent  for  him  and  he  could  not  be  found.  So 
the  guests  went  sadly  home  and  the  lights  were  put 
out.  Miss  Todd's  mortification  may  easily  be  imag- 
ined. 

As  for  Lincoln,  he  was  found  by  his  friends  toward 
daybreak  alone  in  the  woods.  Restless,  miserable, 
gloomy,  desperate,  he  was  truly  an  object  of  pity. 
His  friends  feared  insanity,  and  kept  from  him 
"knives  and  razors,  and  every  instrument  that  could 
be  used  for  self-destruction."  Moreover,  they 
watched  with  him  night  and  day.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  legislature,  which  was  then  in  session ;  but 
he  was  unable  to  attend  it  until  near  its  close.  After 
the  adjournment  he  went  to  Kentucky,  where  he 
spent  some  time  at  the  home  of  his  friend  Speed, 
and  finally  recovered  his  mental  health  and  spirits. 

Speed  was  married  not  long  after  this,  and  was 
so  happy  that  Lincoln  was  encouraged  to  make  the 
trial  himself.  A  diplomatic  lady  friend  brought 
Miss  Todd  and  Lincoln  together  again,  their  friend- 
ship was  renewed,  and  at  last,  on  November  4,  1842, 
they  were  married. 

One  of  Lincoln's  friends  thinks  he  married  his 
wife  to  save  his  honor,  and  that  therdby  he  sacri- 
ficed his  domestic  peace.  Lincoln  lived  with  his 
wife  in  much  the  way  that  other  married  couples 
live,    and    had    several    children,    of    whom   the    best 


40  LINCOLN 

known  is  Robert  T.  Lincoln.  To  the  outer  world 
there  never  appeared  to  be  any  serious  friction  be- 
tween the  couple,  but  it  would  appear  that  they 
were  not  altogether  happy  together. 

Lincoln's  manners  were  certainly  annoying.  One 
evening  while  lying  on  the  floor  in  his  shirtsleeves 
reading,  a  knock  was  heard  at  the  door,  and  though 
Mrs.  Lincoln  had  often  protested  against  his  answer- 
ing the  door  he  insisted  on  doing  it.  This  time  he 
found  two  ladies  come  to  make  a  social  call.  He 
invited  them  into  the  parlor,  and  informed  them  that 
he  would  "trot  the  women  folks  out."  It  is  not 
strange  that  such  things  irritated  Mrs.  Lincoln  not  a 
little. 

Besides,  she  was  strongly  pro-slavery,  being  a 
Kentucky  woman.  "If  ever  my  husband  dies,"  she 
once  remarked,  "his  spirit  will  never  find  me  living 
outside  the  limits  of  a  slave  state." 

He  humored  her,  however,  though  he  often 
avoided  his  home,  staying  in  his  office  without  food 
ill  day  and  all  night,  or  when  he  was  "on  circuit" 
spending  his  Sundays  at  the  poor  little  tavern  where 
he  had  been  lodging  while  his  brother  lawyers 
hastened  to  their  happy  homes.  Once,  it  is  said,  a 
man  called  on  Mrs.  Lincoln  to  find  out  why  his  niece 
had  been  unceremoniously  discharged  as  her  servant. 
It  seems  the  good  lady  used  her  tongue  upon  him 
rather  roughly.  He  at  once  went  to  find  Lincoln 
and  require  proper  satisfaction  for  this  disagreeable 
treatment.  Lincoln  listened  for  a  moment  to  his 
story.  "My  friend,"  he  interrupted,  "I  regret  to 
hear  this,  but  let  me  ask  you  in  all  candor,  can't  you 


LIFE  41 

endure  for  a  few  moments  what  I  have  had  as  my 
daily  portion  for  the  last  fifteen  years?"  Mr.  Hern- 
don,  who  tells  the  story,  says  these  words  were 
spoken  so  mournfully  and  with  such  a  look  of  dis- 
tress that  the  man  was  completely  disarmed,  and 
went  away,  merely  pressing  Lincoln's  hand  and  ex- 
pressing his  sympathy. 

Lincoln  had  four  children,  one  of  whom  died  in 
infancy,  one  (Willie)  died  in  the  White  House, 
Thomas  or  Tad,'  who  died  in  Chicago,  and  Robert 
Todd  Lincoln,  who  became  ambassador  to  the  Court 
of  St.  James   (London)   and  who  died  in  1926. 

At  the  request  of  a  friend,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  out 
the  following  account  of  himself: 

An  Autobiographic  Letter. 

"I  was  born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  county, 
Kentucky.  My  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia, 
of  undistinguished  families — second  families,  perhaps 
I  should  say.  My  mother,  who  died  in  my  tenth 
year,  was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hanks,  some  of 
whom  now  reside  in  Adams,  and  others  in  Macon 
county,  Illinois.  My  paternal  grandfather,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  emigrated  from  Rockingham  county,  Vir- 
ginia, to  Kentucky  about  1781  or  1782,  where  a 
year  or  later  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  not  in 
battle,  but  by  stealth,  when  he  was  laboring  to  open 
a  farm  in  the  forest.  His  ancestors,  who  were 
Quakers,  went  to  Virginia  from  Berks  county,  Penn- 
sylvania. An  effort  to  identify  them  with  the 
New  England  family  of  the  same  name  ended  in 
nothing  more  definite  than  a  similarity  of  Christian 


42  LINCOLN 

names  in  both  families,  such  as  Enoch,  Levi,  Morde- 
cai,  Solomon,  Abraham,  and  the  like. 

"My  father,  at  the  death  of  his  father,  was  but  six 
years  of  age,  and  he  grew  up  literally  without  educa- 
tion. He  removed  from  Kentucky  to  what  is  now 
Spencer  county,  Indiana,  in  my  eighth  year.  We 
reached  our  new  home  about  the  time  the  State 
came  into  the  Union.  It  was  a  wild  region,  with 
many  bears  and  other  wild  animals  still  in  the 
woods.  There  I  grew  up.  There  were  some  schools, 
so  called,  but  no  qualification  was  ever  required  of  a 
teacher  beyond  "readin',  writin,'  and  cipherin'  "  to  the 
rule  of  three.  If  a  straggler  supposed  to  understand 
Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood  he 
was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  There  was  absolutely 
nothing  to  excite  ambition  for  education.  Of  course, 
when  I  came  of  age  I  did  not  know  much.  Still, 
somehow,  I  could  read,  write,  and  cipher  to  the 
rule  of  three,  but  that  was  all.  I  have  not  been  to 
school  since.  The  little  advance  I  now  have  upon 
this  store  of  education  I  have  picked  up  from  time  to 
time  under  the  pressure  of  necessity. 

"I  was  raised  to  farm  work,  which  I  continued  till 
I  was  twenty-two.  At  twenty-one  I  came  to  Illinois, 
Macon  county.  Then  I  got  to  New  Salem,  at  that 
time  in  Sangamon,  now  in  Menard  county,  where  I 
remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in  a  store.  Then 
came  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  I  was  elected  a 
captain  of  volunteers,  a  success  which  gave  me  more 
pleasure  than  any  I  have  had  since.  I  went  the 
campaign,  was  elated,  ran  for  the  legislature  the 
same  year   (1832),  and  was  beaten — the  only  time  I 


LIFE  43 

ever  have  been  beaten  by  the  people.  The  next  and 
three  succeeding  biennial  elections  I  was  elected  to 
the  legislature.  I  was  not  a  candidate  afterward. 
During  this  legislative  period  I  had  studied  law 
and  removed  to  Springfield  to  practice  it.  In  1846 
I  was  once  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  congress. 
Was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election.  From  1849  to 
1854,  both  inclusive,  practiced  law  more  assiduously 
than  ever  before.  Always  a  Whig  in  politics,  and 
generally  on  the  WThig  electoral  tickets,  making 
active  canvasses.  I  was  losing  interest  in  politics 
when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise  aroused 
me  again.  What  I  have  done  since  then  is  pretty 
well  known. 

"If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought  desir- 
able, it  may  be  said  I  am,  in  height,  six  feet  four 
inches,  nearly;  lean  in  flesh,  weighing  on  an  average 
one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds;  dark  complexion, 
with  coarse  black  hair  and  gray  eyes.  No  other 
marks  or  brands  recollected." 

Lincoln's  Personal  Appearance. 

Horace  White,  who  reported  Lincoln's  joint  de- 
bates with  Douglas  for  the  Chicago  Tribune,  has 
this  vivid  description  of  his  personal  appearance. 
Says  he,  "I  have  before  me  a  photograph  taken  at 
Pittsfield,  Illinois,  during  the  campaign  of  1858. 
It  looks  as  I  have  seen  him  a  hundred  times,  his 
lantern  jaws  and  large  mouth  and  solid  nose  firmly 
set,  his  sunken  eyes  looking  at  nothing  yet  not  unex- 
pressive,  his  wrinkled  and  retreating  forehead  cut 
off  by  a  mass  of  tousled  hair,  with  a  shade  of  melan- 


44  LINCOLN 

choly  drawn  like  a  veil  over  his  whole  face.  Noth- 
ing more  unlike  this  can  be  imagined  than  the  same 
Lincoln  when  taking  part  in  a  conversation,  or 
addressing  an  audience,  or  telling  a  story.  The 
dull,  listless  features  dropped  like  a  mask.  The 
melancholy  shadow  disappeared  in  a  twinkling.  The 
eye  began  to  sparkle,  the  mouth  to  smile,  the 
whole  countenance  was  wreathed  with  animation, 
so  that  a  stranger  would  have  said:  'Why,  this 
man,  so  angular  and  sombre  a  moment  ago,  is  really 
handsome.' " 

LETTERS  AND  RECOLLECTIONS.* 

In  one  sense  the  life  of  Lincoln  as  President  is 
the  history  of  the  Civil  War.  Now  that  it  is  all 
over,  we  agree  that  he  saved  the  Union.  How  did 
he  do  it?  What  personal  qualities,  manners  and 
methods  resulted  in  the  final  victory  with  which  we 
are  all   familiar. 

The  authoritative  history  of  this  period  is  the  mon- 
umental work  of  Nicolay  and  Hay,  the  ten-volume 
Life  of  Lincoln.  But  here  we  get  only  the  political 
aspects,  documents,  and  statements  of  historic  facts. 
There  is  little  light  on  the  simple  question.  "How 
did  the  rail  splitter  manage  a  war  that  cost  a  million 
dollars  every  twenty-four  hours,  control  men  who 
were  opposing  him  at  every  turn,  and  in  the  end 
attain  success?" 

The  question  is  too  difficult  to  be  answered  fully 
in  the  small  space  here  available,  but  the  following 
quotations  and  anecdotes  will  suggest  the  answer. 

*Letters  in  this  section  are  used  by  permission  of  the 
Century    Company,    owners    of    the    copyright. 


LIFE  45 

The  First  Inaugural. 

Lincoln's  first  public  appearance  in  Washington 
was  when  he  delivered  his  first  inaugural  address. 
Says  Mr.  L.  E.  Chittenden  in  his  "Recollections," 
"Mr.  Lincoln's  ordinary  voice  was  pitched  in  a  high 
and  not  unmusical  key.  Without  effort  it  was  heard 
at  an  unusual  distance.  Persons  at  the  most  distant 
margins  of  the  audience  said  that  every  word  he 
spoke  was  distinctly  audible  to  them.  The  silence 
was  unbroken.  No  speaker  ever  secured  a  more 
undivided  attention,  for  almost  every  person  felt  a 
personal  interest  in  what  he  was  to  say.  His  friends 
feared,  those  who  were  not  his  friends  hoped,  that, 
forgetting  the  dignity  of  his  position,  and  the  occa- 
sion, he  would  descend  to  the  practices  of  a  story- 
teller, and  fail  to  rise  to  the  level  of  a  statesman. 
For  he  was  popularly  known  as  the  'Rail-splitter'; 
was  supposed  to  be  uncouth  in  his  manner,  and  low, 
if  not  positively  vulgar  in  his  moral  nature.  If  not 
restrained  by  personal  fear,  it  was  thought  that  he 
might  attack  those  who  differed  with  him  in  opinion 
with  threats  and  denunciations. 

"But  the  great  heart  and  kindly  nature  of  the  man 
were  apparent  in  his  opening  sentence,  in  the  tone 
of  his  voice,  the  expression  of  his  face,  in  his  whole 
manner  and  bearing 

"His  introduction  had  not  been  welcomed  by  a 
cheer,  his  opening  remarks  elicited  no  response.  The 
silence  was  long-continued,  and  became  positively 
painful.  But  the  power  of  his  earnest  words  be- 
gan to  show  itself;  the  sombre  cloud  which  seemed 


46  LINCOLN 

to  hang  over  the  audience  began  to  fade  away  when 
he  said,  'I  hold  that  in  the  contemplation  of  uni- 
versal law,  and  of  the  Constitution,  the  Union  of 
these  states  is  perpetual!' — with  the  words  'I  shall 
take  care,  as  the  Constitution  expressly  enjoins  upon 
me,  that  the  "Laws  of  the  Union  shall  be  faithfully 
executed  in  all  the  states."  '  And  when,  with  up- 
lifted eyes  and  solemn  accents,  he  said,  'The  power 
confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy  and 
possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the 
government/  a  great  wave  of  enthusiasm  rolled 
over  the  audience,  as  the  united  voices  of  the  im- 
mense multitude  ascended  heavenward  in  a  roar  of 
assenting  applause. 

"From  this  time  to  the  end  of  his  address,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  controlled  the  audience  at  his  will." 

What  Lincoln  did  in  this  speech  he  had  to  do 
over  and  over  again  continually.  Within  a  month 
Wm.  H.  Seward,  his  secretary  of  state,  sent  him 
a  remarkable  memorandum  headed  "Some  thoughts 
for  the  President's  consideration,"  which  have  been 
summarized  as  follows:  "After  a  month's  trial, 
you,  Mr.  Lincoln,  are  a  failure  as  President.  The 
country  is  in  desperate  straits,  and  must  use  a  des- 
perate remedy.  That  remedy  is  to  submerge  the 
South  Carolina  insurrection  in  a  continental  war. 
Some  new  man  must  take  the  executive  helm,  and 
wield  the  undivided  presidential  authority.  I  should 
have  been  nominated  at  Chicago,  and  elected  in  No- 
vember, but  am  willing  to  take  your  place  and 
perform  your  duties." 

Mr.    Lincoln   quietly  /pigeonholed   this   remarkable 


LIFE  47 

document  and  no  one  knew  of  it  till  twenty-five 
years  later.  In  his  reply  he  wrote  with  simple  dig- 
nity, "If  this  must  be  done,  I  must  do  it.  When 
a  general  line  of  policy  is  adopted,  I  apprehend  there 
is  no  danger  of  its  being  changed  without  good  rea- 
son; still,  upon  points  arising  in  its  progress  I  wish, 
and  suppose  I  am  entitled  to  have,  the  advice  of  all 
the  cabinet."  This  reply  ended  the  argument.  "In 
one  mind  at  least  there  was  no  further  doubt  that 
the  cabinet  had  a  master,  for  only  some  weeks  later 
Mr.  Seward  is  known  to  have  written:  There  is 
but  one  vote  in  the  cabinet,  and  that  is  cast  by  the 
President.' " 

Lincoln  and  his   Generals.. 

The  military  situation  during  the  war  may  be 
briefly  summarized  as  follows:  Most  of  the  army 
was  gathered  about  the  city  of  Washington,  at  first 
under  McClellan,  and  later  under  Hooker,  Halleck, 
and  other  generals,  who  were  always  getting  ready 
to  fight,  but  never  fighting  except  when  they  were 
attacked,  until  "All  quiet  on  the  Pot-o-mac"  became 
a  byward  of  ridicule.  A  lesser  army  was  operating 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  the  first 
great  victory  was  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  by 
Grant.  But  at  the  end  of  three  years  Robert  E. 
Lee  was  holding  Virginia  and  no  progress  had  been 
made  toward  Richmond,  indeed  the  Union  army 
had  been  disgracefully  defeated  on  various  occa- 
sions. These  were  the  darkest  days  for  Lincoln; 
but  after  Grant's  successes  in  the  West,  he  was 
made    lieutenant-general    and    placed    in    command 


48  LINCOLN 

of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Sherman  made  his 
famous  march  to  the  sea,  and  Sheridan  cleared  the 
Shenandoah  valley.  After  a  hard  year's  fighting 
Lee  surrendered  at  Richmond. 

Nothing  is  more  interesting  than  the  way  in 
which  Lincoln  handled  his  incompetent  generals, 
trying  to  get  what  he  could  out  of  each,  until  he 
found    further   effort  useless. 

The  following  letters  to  McClellan  well  illustrate 
the  consideration  and  tact  with  which  he  tried  to 
crowd  him  into  action,  until,  giving  him  up  as  hope- 
less, he  ordered  McClellan's  removal. 

Telegram   to  General  McClellan.    Washington, 
1  May,  1862. 

Your  call  for  Parrott  guns  from  Washington 
alarms  me,  chiefly  because  it  argues  indefinite  pro- 
crastination.   Is  anything  to  be  done? 

Letter    to      general    McClellan.      Washington, 
9  May,  1862. 

My  dear  Sir:  I  have  just  assisted  the  Secretary 
of  War  in  framing  part  of  a  despatch  to  you  re- 
lating to  army  corps,  which  despatch  of  course  will 
have  reached  you  long  before  this  will. 

I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  to  you  privately  on 
this  subject.  I  ordered  the  army  corps  organiza- 
tion not  only  on  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
twelve  generals  whom  you  had  selected  and  as- 
signed as  generals  of  division,  but  also  on  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  every  military  man  I  could 
get   an    opinion    from    (and   every    modern    military 


LIFE  49 

book),  yourself  only  excepted.  Of  course,  I  did 
not  on  my  own  judgment  pretend  to  understand  the 
subject.  I  now  think  it  indispensable  for  you 
to  know  how  your  struggle  against  it  is  received 
in  quarters  which  we  cannot  entirely  disregard.  It 
is  looked  upon  as  merely  an  effort  to  hamper  one 
or  two  pets  and  to  persecute  and  degrade  their 
supposed  rivals.  I  have  had  no  word  from  Sumner, 
Heintzelma-i,  or  Keyes.  The  commanders  of  these 
corps  are  of  course  the  three  highest  officers  with 
you,  but  I  a:n  constantly  told  that  you  have  no  con- 
sultation or  communication  with  them;  that  you 
consult  and  communicate  with  nobody  but  General 
Fitz-John  Porter  and  perhaps  General  Franklin.  I 
do  not  say  these  complaints  are  true  or  just,  but 
at  all  events  it  is  proper  you  should  know  of  their 
existence.  Do  the  commanders  of  corps  disobey 
your  orders  in  anything? 

When  you  relieved  General  Hamilton  of  his  com- 
mand the  other  day,  you  thereby  lost  the  confidence 
of  at  least  one  of  your  best  friends  in  the  Senate. 
And  here  let  me  say,  not  as  applicable  to  you  per- 
sonally, that  senators  and  representatives  speak  ot 
me  in  their  places  as  they  please  without  question, 
and  that  officers  of  the  army  must  cease  addressing 
insulting  letters  to  them  for  taking  no  greater  lib- 
erty with  them. 

But  to  return.  Are  you  strong  enough — are  you 
strong  enough,  even  with  my  help — to  set  your  foot 
upon  the  necks  of  Sumner,  Heintzelman,  and  Keyes 
all  at  once?  This  is  a  practical  and  very  serious 
question  for  you. 


50  LINCOLN 

The  success  of  your  army  and  the  cause  of  the 
country  are  the  same,  and  of  course  I  only  desire 
the  good  of  the  cause. 

Telegram  to  General  McClellan.  Washington, 
28  May,  1862. 
I  am  very  glad  of  General  F.  J.  Porter's  victory. 
Still,  if  it  was  a  total  rout  of  the  enemy,  I  am 
puzzled  to  know  why  the  Richmond  and  Fredericks- 
burg Railroad  was  not  seized  again,  as  you  say 
you  have  all  the  railroads  but  the  Richmond  and 
Fredericksburg.  I  am  puzzled  to  see  how,  lacking 
that,  you  can  have  any,  except  the  scrap  from  Rich- 
mond to  West  Point.  The  scrap  of  the  Virginia 
Central  from  Richmond  to  Hanover  Junction,  with- 
out more,  is  simply  nothing.  That  the  whole  of 
the  enemy  is  concentrating  on  Richmond,  I  think 
cannot  be  certainly  known  to  you  or  me.  Saxton, 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  informs  us  that  large  forces, 
supposed  to  be  Jackon's  and  Ewell's,  forced  his 
advance  from  Charlestown  to-day.  General  King 
telegraphs  us  from  Fredericksburg  that  contrabands 
give  certain  information  that  15,000  left  Hanover 
Junction  Monday  morning  to  reinforce  Jackson.  I 
am  painfully  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the 
struggle  before  you,  and  shall  aid  you  all  I  can 
consistently  with  my  view  of  due  regard  to  all 
points. 

Letter    to    General    McClellan.     Washington, 
1  July,  1862. 
It  is  impossible  to  reinforce  you  for  your  present 
emergency.    If  we  had  a  million  men  we  could  not 


LIFE  51 

get  them  to  you  in  time.  We  have  not  the  men  to 
send.  If  you  are  not  strong  enough  to  face  the 
enemy,  you  must  find  a  place  of  security,  and  wait, 
rest,  and  repair.  Maintain  your  ground  if  you  can, 
but  save  the  army  at  all  events,  even  if  you  fall 
back  to  Fort  Monroe.  We  still  have  strength 
enough  in  the  country  and  will  bring  it  out. 

Telegram   to   General  McClellan.    Washington, 
5  July,  1862. 

A  thousand  thanks  for  the  relief  your  two  des- 
patches of  12  and  1  p.  m.  yesterday  gave  me.  Be 
assured  the  heroism  and  skill  of  yourself  and  offi- 
cers  and  men   is,   and   forever  will   be,   appreciated. 

If  you  can  hold  your  present  position,  we  shall 
have   the   enemy   yet. 

From  a  Letter  to  General  McClellan.   Washing- 
■on,  13  October,  1862. 

My  dear  Sir:  You  remember  my  speaking  to  you 
of  what  I  called  your  over-cautiousness.  Are  you 
not  over-cautious  when  you  assume  that  you  can- 
not do  what  the  enemy  is  constantly  doing?  Should 
you  not  claim  to  be  at  least  his  equal  in  prowess, 
and  act  upon  the  claim?  As  I  understood,  you 
telegraphed  General  Halleck  that  you  cannot  sub- 
sist your  army  at  Winchester  unless  the  railroad 
from  Harper's  Ferry  to  that  point  be  put  in  working 
order.  But  the  enemy  does  now  subsist  his  army 
at  Winchester,  at  a  distance  nearly  twice  as  great 
from  railroad  transportation  as  you  would  have  to 
do    without    the    railroad    last    named.      He    now 


52  LINCOLN 

wagons  from  Culpeper  Court  House,  which  is  just 
about  twice  as  far  as  you  would  have  to  do  from 
Harper's  Ferry.  He  is  certainly  not  more  than  half 
as  well  provided  with  wagons  as  you  are.  I  cer- 
tainly should  be  pleased  for  you  to  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  railroad  from  Harper's  Ferry  to 
Winchester,  but  it  wastes  all  the  remainder  of  au- 
tumn to  give  it  to  you,  and  in  fact  ignores  the  ques- 
tion of  time,  which  cannot  and  must  not  be  ignored. 
Again,  one  of  the  standard  maxims  of  war,  as  you 
know,  is  to  "operate  upon  the  enemy's  communica- 
tions as  much  as  possible  without  exposing  your 
own."  You  seem  to  act  as  if  this  applies  against 
you,  but  cannot  apply  in  your  favor.  Change  po- 
sitions with  the  enemy,  and  think  you  not  he  would 
break  your  communication  with  Richmond  within 
the  next  twenty-four  hours?  You  dread  his  going 
into  Pennsylvania;  but  if  he  does  so  in  full  force, 
he  gives  up  his  communications  to  you  absolutely, 
and  you  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  follow  and  ruin 
him.  If  he  does  so  with  less  than  full  force,  fall 
upon  and  beat  what  is  left  behind  all  the  easier. 
Exclusive  of  the  water-line,  you  are  now  nearer 
Richmond  than  the  enemy  is  by  the  route  that  you 
can  and  he  must  take.  Why  can  you  not  reach  there 
before  him,  unless  you  admit  that  he  is  more  than 
your  equal  on  a  march?  His  route  is  the  arc  of 
a  circle,  while  yours  is  the  chord.  The  roads  are 
as  good  on  yours  as  on  his.  You  know  I  desired, 
but  did  not  order,  you  to  cross  the  Potomac  below, 
instead  of  above,  the  Shenandoah  and  Blue  Ridge. 
My   idea  was   that  this   would  at  once   menace  the 


LIFE  53 

enemy's  communications,  which  I  would  seize  if  he 
would   permit. 

If  he  should  move  northward,  I  would  follow  him 
closely,  holding  his  communications.  If  he  should 
prevent  our  seizing  his  communications  and  move 
toward  Richmond,  I  would  press  closely  to  him, 
fight  him  if  a  favorable  opportunity  should  present, 
and  at  least  try  to  beat  him  to  Richmond  on  the 
inside  track.  I  say  "try" :  if  we  never  try,  we  shall 
never  succeed.  If  he  makes  a  stand  at  Winchester, 
moving  neither  north  nor  south,  I  would  fight  him 
there,  on  the  idea  that  if  we  cannot  beat  him  when 
he  bears  the  wastage  of  coming  to  us,  we  never  can 
when  we  bear  the  wastage  of  going  to  him.  This 
proposition  is  a  simple  truth,  and  is  too  important 
to  be  lost  sight  of  for  a  moment.  In  coming  to 
us  he  tenders  to  us  an  advantage  which  we  should 
not  waive.  We  should  not  so  operate  as  to  merely 
drive  him  away.  As  we  must  beat  him  somewhere 
or  fail  finally,  we  can  do  it,  if  at  all,  easier  near  to 
us  than  far  away.  If  we  cannot  beat  the  enemy 
where  he  now  is,  we  never  can,  he  again  being 
within  the  intrenchments  of  Richmond. 
Telegram  to  General  McClellan.  Washington, 
24  October,    1862. 

I  have  just  read  your  despatch  about  sore-tongued 
and  fatigued  horses.  Will  you  pardon  me  for  ask- 
ing what  the  horses  of  your  army  have  done  since 
the  battle  of  Antietam  that  fatigues  anything? 
Telegram  to  General  McClellan.  Washington, 
27  October,  1862. 

Your  despatch  of  3  p.  m.  today,  in  regard  to  fill- 


54  LINCOLN 

ing  up  old  regiments  with  drafted  men,  is  received 
and  the  request  therein  shall  be  complied  with  as 
far  as  practicable. 

And  now  I  ask  a  distinct  answer  to  the  question, 
Is  it  your  purpose  not  to  go  into  action  again  until 
the  men  now  being  drafted  in  the  States  are  incor- 
porated into  the  old  regiments? 

On  November  5,  McClellan  was  relieved  from 
command. 

When  he  placed  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  the  hands  of  General  Hooker  he  wrote 
to  him  the  following  characteristic  letter: 

Letter  to  General  J.  Hooker.  Washington, 
26  January,  1863. 
General:  I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  Of  course  I  have  done  this 
upon  what  appear  to  me  to  be  sufficient  reasons, 
and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know  that  there 
are  some  things  in  regard  to  which  I  am  not  quite 
satisfied  with  you.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and 
skilful  soldier,  which  of  course  I  like.  I  also  believe 
you  do  not  mix  politics  with  your  profession,  in 
which  you  are  right.  You  have  confidence  in  your- 
self, which  is  a  valuable  if  not  an  indispensable 
quality.  You  are  ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable 
bounds,  does  good  rather  than  harm;  but  I  think 
that  during  General  Burnside's  command  of  the 
army  you  have  taken  counsel  of  your  ambition  and 
thwarted  him  as  much  as  you  could,  in  which  you 
did  a  gieat  wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most 
meritorious   and   honorable   brother   officer.     I   have 


LIFE  55 

heard,  in  such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  of  your  re- 
cently saying  that  both  the  army  and  the  government 
needed  a  dictator.  Of  course  it  was  not  for  this, 
but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I  have  given  you  the  command. 
Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes  can  set  up 
dictators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military  success, 
and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship.  The  government  will 
support  you  to  the  utmost  of  its  ability,  which  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do 
for  all  commanders.  I  much  fear  that  the  spirit 
which  you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of 
criticising  their  commander  and  withholding  con- 
fidence from  him,  will  now  turn  upon  you.  I  shall 
assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put  it  down.  Neither 
you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again,  could  get 
any  good  out  of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails 
in  it;  and  now  beware  of  rashness.  Beware  of  rash- 
ness, but  with  energy  and  sleepless  vigilance  go 
forward  and  give  us  victories. 

Meade  succeeded  Hooker  and  won  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  but  failed  to  follow  up  his  success,  and 
Lincoln  wrote  him  as  follows;  'but  the  letter  was 
never  signed  or  sent.  Lincoln  knew  it  was  useless, 
and  he  would  not  inflict  unnecessary  pain,  even  on 
an  erring  general. 

Letter  to  General  Meade  After  the  Battle  of 

Gettysburg.   Washington,  14  July  1863. 

Never  Signed  or  Sent. 

I  have  just  seen  your  despatch  to  General  Halleck, 
asking  to  be  relieved  of  your  command  because 
of   a   supposed   censure   of   mine.    I   am   very,    very 


56  LINCOLN 

grateful  to  you  for  the  magnificent  success  you 
gave  the  cause  of  the  country  at  Gettysburg;  and  I 
am  sorry  now  to  be  the  author  of  the  slightest 
pain  to  you.  But  I  was  in  such  deep  distress  myself 
that  I  could  not  restrain  some  expression  of  it.  I 
have  been  oppressed  nearly  ever  since  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  by  what  appeared  to  be  evidences  that 
yourself  and  General  Couch  and  General  Smith 
were  not  seeking  a  collision  with  the  enemy,  but 
were  trying  to  get  him  across  the  river  without  an- 
other battle.  What  these  evidences  were,  if  you 
please,  I  hope  to  tell  you  at  some  time  when  we 
shall  both  feel  better.  The  case,  summarily  stated, 
is  this:  You  fought  and  beat  the  enemy  at  Gettys- 
burg, and,  of  course,  to  say  the  least,  his  loss  was 
as  great  as  yours.  He  retreated,  and  you  did  not, 
as  it  seemed  to  me,  pressingly  pursue  him;  but  a 
flood  in  the  river  detained  him  till,  by  slow  degrees 
you  were  again  upon  him.  You  had  at  least  twenty 
thousand  veteran  troops  directly  with  you,  and  as 
many  more  raw  ones  within  supporting  distance, 
all  in  addition  to  those  who  fought  with  you  at 
Gettysburg,  while  it  was  not  possible  that  he  had 
received  a  single  recruit,  and  yet  you  stood  and 
let  the  flood  run  down,  bridges  be  built,  and  the 
enemy  move  away  at  his  leisure  without  attacking 
him.  And  Couch  and  Smith!  The  latter  left  Car- 
lisle in  time,  upon  all  ordinary  calculation,  to  have 
aided  you  in  the  last  battle  of  Gettysburg,  but  he  did 
not  arrive.  At  the  end  of  more  than  ten  days,  I 
believe,  twelve,  under  constant  urging,  he  reached 
Hagerstown    from    Carlisle,    which    is    not    an    inch 


LIFE  57 

over  fifty-five  miles,  if  so  much,  and  Couch's  move- 
ment was  very  little  different. 

Again,  my  dear  general,  I  do  not  believe  you 
appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  misfortune  involved 
in  Lee's  escape.  He  was  within  your  easy  grasp, 
and  to  have  closed  upon  him  would,  in  connection 
with  our  other  late  successes,  have  ended  the  war. 
As  it  is,  the  war  will  be  prolonged  indefinitely. 
If  you  could  not  safely  attack  Lee  last  Monday, 
how  can  you  possibly  do  so  south  of  the  river, 
when  you  can  take  with  you  very  few  more  than 
two  thirds  of  the  force  you  then  had  in  hand? 
It  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect,  and  I  do  not 
expect  [that],  you  can  now  effect  much.  Your 
golden  opportunity  is  gone,  and  I  am  distressed  im- 
measurably  because   of    it. 

I  beg  you  will  not  consider  this  a  prosecution  or 
persecution  of  yourself.  As  you  had  learned  that 
I  was  dissatisfied,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  kindly 
tell  you  why. 

What  Lincoln  wanted  from  his  generals  was 
results,  and  if  he  got  them  he  cared  little  how  they 
were  obtained.  After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg 
Lincoln  sent  the  following  letter  to  General  Grant. 
It  is  dated  July  13,  the  day  before  the  preceding  let- 
ter to   Meade  was  written. 

Letter  to  General  Grant  After  the  Surrender  of 

Vicksburg.    Washington,  13  July,  1863. 

My  dear   General:    I   do  not   remember  that  you 

and    I    ever    met    personally.     I    write    this    now   as 

a    grateful    acknowledgment    for    the   almost    inesti- 


58  LINCOLN 

mable  service  you  have  done  the  country.  I  wish 
to  say  a  word  further.  When  you  first  reached 
the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg,  I  thought  you  should  do 
what  you  finally  did — march  the  troops  across  the 
neck,  run  the  batteries  with  the  transports,  and 
thus  go  below;  and  I  never  had  any  faith,  except 
a  general  hope  that  you  knew  better  than  I,  that  the 
Yazoo  Pass  expedition  and  the  like  could  succeed. 
When  you  got  below  and  took  Port  Gibson,  Grand 
Gulf  and  vicinity,  I  thought  you  should  go  down  the 
river  and  join  General  Banks,  and  when  you  turned 
northward,  east  of  the  Big  Black,  I  feared  it  was 
a  mistake.  I  now  wish  to  make  the  personal 
acknowledgment  that  you  were  right  and  I  was 
wrong. 

A  few  months  later,  April  30,  1864,  Lincoln  wrote 
as  follows  to  General  Grant,  who  was  then  in 
command  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac: 

Letter  to  General  Grant.    Washington, 
30  April,  1864. 

Not  expecting  to  see  you  again  before  the  spring 
campaign  opens,  I  wish  to  express  in  this  way 
my  entire  satisfaction  with  what  you  have  done  up 
to  this  time,  so  far  as  I  understand  it.  The  par- 
ticulars of  your  plans  I  neither  know  nor  seek 
to  know.  You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant;  and, 
pleased  with  this,  I  wish  not  to  obtrude  any  con- 
straints or  restraints  upon  you.  While  I  am  very 
anxious  that  any  great  disaster  or  capture  of  our 
men  in  great  numbers  shall  be  avoided,  I  know 
these  points  are  less  likely  to  escape  your  attention 
than    thev    would    be    mine.     If    there    is    anything 


LIFE  59 

wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to  give,  do  not 
fail  to  let  me  know  it.  And  now,  with  a  brave  army 
and  a  just  cause,  may  God  sustain  you. 

The  following  interesting  account  of  a  personal  inter- 
view with  Lincoln  has  been  attributed  to  General  Grant. 
Whether  true  or  not,  it  is  an  excellent  example  of  Lin- 
coln's facility  in  using  story  telling  to  illustrate  his  point. 
"Just  after  receiving  my  commission  as  lieutenant- 
general,"  he  says,  "the  President  called  me  aside  to 
speak  to  me  privately.  After  a  brief  reference  to 
the  mil.  ary  situation,  he  said  he  thought  he  could 
illustrate  what  he  wanted  to  say  by  a  story,  which 
he  related  as  follows:  'At  one  time  there  was  a 
great  war  among  the  animals,  and  one  side  had 
great  difficulty  in  getting  a  commander  who  had 
sufficient  confidence  in  himself.  Finally  they  found 
a  monkey  by  the  name  of  Jocko,  who  said  that  he 
thought  he  could  command  the  army  if  his  tail 
could  be  made  a  little  longer.  So  they  got  more 
tail  and  spliced  it  on  his  caudal  appendage.  He 
looked  at  it  admiringly,  and  then  thought  he  ought 
to  have  a  little  more  still.  This  was  added,  and 
again  he  called  for  more.  The  splicing  process 
was  repeated  many  times,  until  they  had  coiled 
Jocko's  tail  around  the  room,  filling  all  the  space. 
Still  he  called  for  more  tail,  and,  there  being  no 
other  place  to  coil  it,  they  began  wrapping  it  around 
his  shoulders.  He  continued  to  call  for  more,  and 
they  kept  on  winding  the  additional  tail  about  him 
until  its  weight  broke  him  down.'  I  saw  the 
point,"  says  Grant,  "and  rising  from  my  chair  re- 
plied,  'Mr.   President,   I  will  not  call   for  more  as- 


60  LINCOLN 

sistance  unless  I  find  it  impossible  to  do  with 
what  I  already  have.' " 

It  is  said  that  about  the  time  Grant  was  winning 
some  of  his  victories  in  the  West,  a  temperance  or- 
ganization petitioned  the  President  to  remove  him 
because  he  drank  too  much  whiskey,  and  the  Presi- 
dent replied,  "If  I  could  find  out  what  kind  of 
whiskey  Grant  drinks,  I  would  send  a  barrel ful  to 
every  other  general  in  the  field."  A  friend  asked 
him  later  whether  this  story  was  true  or  not,  and 
Lincoln  replied  that  the  story  originated  in  King 
George's  time.  When  General  Wolfe  was  accused 
of  being  mad,  the  King  replied,  "I  wish  he  would 
bite  some  of   my  generals." 

General  Grant  sums  up  his  relations  with  the 
President  by  saying,  "With  all  his  disappointments 
from  failures  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  he  had 
intrusted  commands,  and  treachery  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  gained  his  confidence  but  to  betray 
it,  I  never  heard  him  utter  a  complaint,  nor  cast 
a  censure,  for  bad  conduct  or  bad  faith.  It  was  his 
nature  to  find  excuses  for  his  adversaries.  In  his 
death  the  nation  lost  its  greatest  hero;  in  his  death 
the  South  lost  its  most  just  friend." 

The  Dark  Hours. 

"The  darkest  hour  of  the  Civil  War  came  in  the 
first  week  of  May,  1863,  after  the  bloody  battle  of 
Chancellorsville,"  says  W.  O.  Stoddard,  who  was  at 
that  time  an  inmate  of  the  White  House.  "The 
country  was  weary  of  the  long  war,  with  its  drain- 
ing taxes  of  gold  and  blood.    Discontent  prevailed 


LIFE  61 

everywhere,  and  the  opponents  of  the  Lincoln  ad- 
ministration were  savage  in  their  denunciation.  More 
than  a  third  of  each  day's  mail  already  consisted  of 
measureless  denunciation;  another  large  part  was 
made  up  of  piteous  appeals  for  peace. 

"There  were  callers  at  the  White  House.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Senate  and  House  came  with  gloomy 
faces;  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  came  to  con- 
sult or  condole.  The  house  was  like  a  funeral, 
and  those  who  entered  or  left  it  trod  softly  for 
fear  they  might  wake  the  dead. 

"That  night  the  last  visitors  in  Lincoln's  room 
were  Stanton  and  Halleck,  and  the  President  was 
left  alone.  Not  another  soul  except  the  one  secre- 
tary busy  with  the  mail  in  his  room  across  the  hall ! 
The  ticking  of  a  clock  would  have  been  noticeable; 
but  another  sound  came  that  was  almost  as  regular 
and  as  ceaseless.  It  was  the  tread  of  the  President's 
feet  as  he  strode  slowly  back  and  forth  across  his 
chamber.  That  ceaseless  march  so  accustomed  the 
ear  to  it  that  when,  a  little  after  twelve,  there  was 
a  break  of  several  minutes,  the  sudden  silence  made 
one  put  down  his  letters  and  listen. 

"The  President  may  have  been  at  his  writing 
table,  or  he  may — no  man  knows  or  can  guess;  but 
at  the  end  of  the  minutes,  long  or  short,  the  tramp 
began  again.  Two  o'clock  and  he  was  walking  yet, 
and  when,  a  little  after  three,  the  secretary's  task 
was  done  and  he  slipped  noiselessly  out,  he  turned 
at  the  head  of  the  stairs  for  a  moment.  It  was 
so — the  last  sound  he  heard  as  he  went  down  was 
the   footfall   in  Lincoln's  room. 


62  LINCOLN 

"The  young  man  was  there  again  before  eight 
o'clock.  The  President's  room  was  open.  There  sat 
Lincoln  eating  his  breakfast  alone.  He  had  not  been 
out  of  his  room;  but  there  was  a  kind  of  cheery, 
hopeful  morning  light  on  his  face.  He  had  watched 
all  night,  but  besides  his  cup  of  coffee  lay  his  in- 
structions to  General  Hooker  to  push  forward. 
There  was  a  decisive  battle  won  that  night  in  that 
long  vigil  with  disaster  and  despair.  Only  a  few 
weeks  later  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  fought  it  all 
over  again  as  desperately — and  they  won  it — at 
Gettysburg." 

Letter  to  John  D.  Johnston,  2  January,   1851, 
Refusing  Request  for  Loan. 

The  following  letter  to  J.  D.  Johnston,  who  was 
a  son  by  a  former  marriage  of  Lincoln's  stepmother, 
is  both  characteristic  and  amusing. 

Dear  Johnston :  Your  request  for  eighty  dollars 
I  do  not  think  it  best  to  comply  with  now.  At  the 
various  times  when  I  have  helped  you  a  little  you 
have  said  to  me,  "We  can  get  along  very  well  now"; 
but  in  a  very  short  time  I  find  you  in  the  same 
difficulty  again.  Now,  this  can  only  happen  by  some 
defect  in  your  conduct.  What  that  defect  is,  I  think 
I  know.  You  are  not  lazy,  and  still  you  are  an 
idler.  I  doubt  whether,  since  I  saw  you,  you  have 
done  a  good  whole  day's  work  in  any  one  day.  You 
do  not  very  much  dislike  to  work,  and  still  you  do 
not   work  much,   merely  because   it   does   not   seem 


LIFE  63 

to  you  that  you  could  get  much  for  it.  This  habit 
of  uselessly  wasting  time  is  the  whole  difficulty;  it 
is  vastly  important  to  you,  and  still  more  so  to  your 
children,  that  you  should  break  the  habit.  It  is 
more  important  to  them,  because  they  have  longer 
to  live,  and  can  keep  out  of  an  idle  habit  before  they 
are  in  it,  easier  than  they  can  get  out  after  they 
are  in. 

You  are  now  in  need  of  some  money;  and  what  I 
propose  is,  that  you  shall  go  to  work,  "tooth  and 
nail,"  for  somebody  who  will  give  you  money  for  it. 
Let  father  and  your  boys  take  charge  of  your  things 
at  home,  prepare  for  a  crop,  and  make  the  crop, 
and  you  go  to  work  for  the  best  money  wages,  or  in 
discharge  of  any  debt  you  owe,  that  you  can  get; 
and,  to  secure  you  a  fair  reward  for  your  labor,  I 
now  promise  you,  that  for  every  dollar  you  will, 
between  this  and  the  first  of  May,  get  for  your  own 
labor,  either  in  money  or  as  your  own  indebtedness, 
I  will  then  give  you  one  other  dollar.  By  this,  if 
you  hire  yourself  at  ten  dollars  a  month,  from  me 
you  will  get  ten  more,  making  twenty  dollars  a 
month  for  your  work.  In  this  I  do  not  mean  you 
shall  go  off  to  St.  Louis,  or  the  lead  mines,  or  the 
gold  mines  in  California,  but  I  mean  for  you  to  go 
at  it  for  the  best  wages  you  can  get  close  to  home 
in  Coles  County.  Now,  if  you  will  do  this,  you 
will  be  soon  out  of  debt,  and,  what  is  better,  you 
will  have  a  habit  that  will  keep  you  from  getting 
in  debt  again.  But,  if  I  should  now  clear  you  out 
of  debt,  next  year  you  would  be  just  as  deep  in  as 


64  LINCOLN 

ever.  You  say  you  would  almost  give  your  place 
in  heaven  for  seventy  or  eighty  dollars.  Then  you 
value  your  place  in  heaven  very  cheap,  for  I  am 
sure  you  can,  with  the  offer  I  make,  get  the  sev- 
enty or  eighty  dollars  for  four  or  five  months'  work. 
You  say  if  I  will  furnish  you  the  money  you  will 
deed  me  the  land,  and,  if  you  don't  pay  the  money 
hack,  you  will  deliver  possession.  Nonsense!  If 
you  can't  now  live  with  the  land,  how  will  you  then 
live  without  it?  You  have  always  been  kind  to  me, 
and  I  do  not  mean  to  be  unkind  to  you.  On  the 
contrary,  if  you  will  but  follow  my  advice,  you  will 
find  it  worth  the  more  than  eighty  times  eighty  dollars 
to  you. 

Letter  to  Horace  Greeley.    Washington, 
22  August,  1862. 
In  Answer  to  an   Open  Letter  in  the  Tribune 
Headed   "The   Prayer  of   Twenty   Millions," 
Accusing  Lincoln  of  Being  too  Friendly  To- 
ward the  Pro- Slavery  Advocates. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th,  ad- 
dressed to  myself  through  the  New  York  "Tribune." 
If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  assumptions  of 
fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do 
not,  now  and  here,  controvert  them.  If  there 
be  in  it  any  inferences  which  I  may  believe  to  be 
falsely  drawn,  I  do  not,  now  and  here,  argue  against 
them.  If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  an  impatient 
and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive  it  in  deference  to  an 
old  friend  whose  heart  I  have  always  supposed  to 
be  right. 


LIFE  65 

As  to  the  policy  I  "seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you 
say,  I  have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in  doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the 
shortest  way  under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner 
the  national  authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer 
the  Union  will  be  "the  Union  as  it  was."  If  there 
be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree 
with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save 
the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time 
destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  My 
paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the 
Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery. 
If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave 
I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the 
slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  free- 
ing some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do 
that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I 
do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union ; 
and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not 
believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do 
less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am  doing  hurts 
the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  whenever  I  shall 
believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause.  I  shall  try 
to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors,  and  I 
shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear 
to  be  true  views. 

I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my 
view  of  official  duty;  and  I  intend  no  modification 
of  my  oft-expresed  personal  wish  that  all  men 
everywhere   could  be   free. 


66  LINCOLN 


SPEECHES 

NOTE  FOR  LAW  LECTURE 

Written  About  1  July,  1850. 

I  am  not  an  accomplished  lawyer.  I  find  quite 
as  much  material  for  a  lecture  in  those  points 
wherein  I  have  failed,  as  in  those  wherein  I  have 
been  moderately  successful.  The  leading  rule  for 
the  lawyer,  as  for  the  man  of  every  other  calling, 
is  diligence.  Leave  nothing  for  to-morrow  which 
can  be  done  to-day.  Never  let  your  correspondence 
fall  behind.  Whatever  piece  of  business  you  have 
in  hand,  before  stopping,  do  all  the  labor  pertain- 
ing to  it  which  can  then  be  done.  When  you  bring 
a  common-law  suit,  if  you  have  the  facts  for  doing 
so,  write  the  declaration  at  once.  If  a  law  point  be 
involved,  examine  the  books,  and  note  the  authority 
you  rely  on  upon  the  declaration  itself,  where  you 
are  sure  to  find  it  when  wanted.  The  same  of  de- 
fenses and  pleas.  In  business  not  likely  to  be  liti- 
gated,— ordinary  collection  cases,  foreclosures,  par- 
titions, and  the  like, — make  all  examinations  of  titles, 
and  note  them,  and  even  draft  orders  and  de- 
crees in  advance.  This  course  has  a  triple  advantage; 
it  avoids  omissions  and  neglect,  saves  you  labor 
when  once  done,  performs  the  labor  out  of  court 
when  you  have  leisure,  rather  than  in  court  when 
you  have  not.  Extemporaneous  speaking  should  be 
practiced  and  cultivated.    It  is  the  lawyer's  avenue 


SPEECHES  67 

to  the  public.  However  able  and  faithful  he  may  be 
in  other  respects,  people  are  slow  to  bring  him  busi- 
ness if  he  cannot  make  a  speech.  And  yet  there  is 
not  a  more  fatal  error  to  young  lawyers  than  relying 
too  much  on  speech-making.  If  any  one,  upon  his 
rare  powers  of  speaking,  shall  claim  an  exemption 
from  the  drudgery  of  the  law,  his  case  is  a  failure 
in  advance. 

Discourage  litigation.  Persuade  your  neighbors  to 
compromise  whenever  you  can.  Point  out  to  them 
how  the  nominal  winner  is  often  a  real  loser — in 
fees,  expenses,  and  waste  of  time.  As  a  peacemaker 
the  lawyer  has  a  superior  opportunity  of  being  a 
good  man.    There   will    still   be   business  enough. 

Never  stir  up  litigation.  A  worse  man  can  scarce- 
ly be  found  than  one  who  does  this.  Who  can  be  more 
nearly  a  fiend  than  he  who  habitually  overhauls  the 
register  of  deeds  in  search  of  defects  in  titles, 
whereon  to  stir  up  strife,  and  put  money  in  his 
pocket?  A  moral  tone  ought  to  be  infused  into  the 
profession  which  should  drive  such   men  out  of  it. 

The  matter  of  fees  is  important,  far  beyond  the 
mere  question  of  bread  and  butter  involved.  Prop- 
erly attended  to,  fuller  justice  is  done  to  both  law- 
yer and  client.  An  exorbitant  fee  should  never  be 
claimed.  As  a  general  rule  never  take  your  whole 
fee  in  advance,  nor  any  more  than  a  small  retainer. 
When  fully  paid  beforehand,  you  are  more  than 
a  common  mortal  if  you  can  feel  the  same  interest 
in  the  case,  as  if  something  was  still  in  prospect 
for  you,  as  well  as  for  your  client.  And  when  you 
lack    interest    in   the    case   the   job   will   very   likely 


68  LINCOLN 

lack  skill  and  diligence  in  the  performance.  Settle 
the  amount  of  fee  and  take  a  note  in  advance.  Then 
you  will  feel  that  you  are  working  for  something, 
and  you  are  sure  to  do  your  work  faithfully  and 
well.  Never  sell  a  fee  note — at  least  not  before  the 
consideration  service  is  performed.  It  leads  to 
negligence  and  dishonesty — negligence  by  closing  in- 
terest in  the  case,  and  dishonesty  in  refusing  to  re- 
fund when  you  have  allowed  the  consideration  to 
fail. 

There  is  a  vague  popular  belief  that  lawyers  are 
necessarily  dishonest.  I  say  vague,  because  when 
we  consider  to  what  extent  confidence  and  honors 
are  reposed  in  and  conferred  upon  lawyers  by  the 
people,  it  appears  improbable  that  their  impression 
of  dishonesty  is  very  distinct  and  vivid.  Yet  the 
impression  is  common,  almost  universal.  Let  no 
young  man  choosing  the  law  for  a  calling  for  a 
moment  yield  to  the  popular  belief — resolve  to  be 
honest  at  all  events;  and  if  in  your  own  judgment 
you  cannot  be  an  honest  lawyer  resolve  to  be  hon- 
est without  being  a  lawyer.  Choose  some  other  oc- 
cupation, rather  than  one  in  the  choosing  of  which 
you   do,   in  advance,   consent  to   be  a  knave. 

REPLY   TO  SENATOR  STEPHEN  A.  DOUG- 
LAS AT  PEORIA, 

Illinois,  16  October,  1854,  the  Greatest  Speech 
of  the  Douglas  Debate. 

About  a  month  after  the  introduction  of  the  bill 
[to   give    Nebraska   and   Kansas    territorial    govern- 


SPEECHES  69 

ments]  on  the  judge's  own  motion  it  is  so  amended 
as  to  declare  the  Missouri  Compromise  inoperative 
and  void;  and,  substantially,  that  the  people  who 
go  and  settle  there  may  establish  slavery,  or  ex- 
clude it,  as  they  may  see  fit.  In  this  shape  the  bill 
passed  both  branches  of  Congress  and  became  a 
law. 

This  is  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
The  foregoing  history  may  not  be  precisely  accu- 
rate in  every  particular,  but  I  am  sure  it  is  suffi- 
ciently so  for  all  the  use  I  shall  attempt  to  make 
of  it,  and  in  it  we  have  before  us  the  chief  material 
enabling  us  to  judge  correctly  whether  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  is  right  or  wrong.  I 
think,  and  shall  try  to  show,  that  it  is  wrong — wrong 
in  its  direct  effect,  letting  slavery  into  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  and  wrong  in  its  prospective  principle, 
allowing  it  to  spread  to  every  other  part  of  the 
wide  world  where  men  can  be  found  inclined  to 
take   it. 

This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I  must  think, 
covert  real  zeal,  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  can- 
not but  hate.  I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous 
injustice  of  slavery  itself.  I  hate  it  because  it  de- 
prives our  republican  example  of  its  just  influence 
in  the  world;  enables  the  enemies  of  free  institu- 
tions with  plausibility  to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites; 
causes  the  real  friends  of  freedom  to  doubt  our 
sincerity;  and  especially  because  it  forces  so  many 
good  men  among  ourselves  into  an  open  war  with 
the  very  fundamental  principles  of  civil  liberty,  criti- 
cizing the   Declaration  of   Independence,  and   insist- 


70  LINCOLN 

ing  that  there  is  no  right  principle  of  action  but 
self-interest. 

Before  proceeding  let  me  say  that  I  think  I  have 
no  prejudice  against  the  Southern  people.  They 
are  just  what  we  would  be  in  their  situation.  If 
slavery  did  not  now  exist  among  them,  they  would 
not  introduce  it.  If  it  did  now  exist  among  us,  we 
should  not  instantly  give  it  up.  This  I  believe  of  the 
masses  North  and  South.  Doubtless  there  are  indi-. 
viduals  on  both  sides  who  would  not  hold  slaves 
under  any  circumstances,  and  others  who  would 
gladly  introduce  slavery  anew  if  it  were  out  of 
existence.  We  know  that  some  Southern  men  do 
free  their  slaves,  go  North  and  become  tip-top 
Abolitionists,  while  some  Northern  ones  go  South 
and    become    most    cruel    slave-masters. 

When  Southern  people  tell  us  they  are  no  more 
responsible  for  the  origin  of  slavery  than  we  are, 
I  acknowledge  the  fact.  When  it  is  said  that  the 
institution  exists,  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  get 
rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  I  can  understand 
and  appreciate  the  saying.  I  surely  will  not  blame 
them  for  not  doing  what  I  should  not  know  how 
to  do  myself.  If  all  earthly  power  were  given  me, 
I  should  not  know  what  to  do  as  to  the  existing 
institution.  My  first  impulse  would  be  to  free  all 
the  slaves,  and  send  them  to  Liberia,  to  their  own 
native  land.  But  a  moment's  reflection  would  con- 
vince me  that  whatever  of  high  hope  (as  I  think 
there  is)  there  may  be  in  this  in  the  long  run,  its 
sudden  execution  is  impossible.  If  they  were  all 
landed  there  in  a  day,  they  would  all  perish  in  the 


SPEECHES  71 

next  ten  days;  and  there  are  not  surplus  shipping 
and  surplus  money  enough  to  carry  them  there  in 
many  times  ten  days.  What  then?  Free  them  all, 
and  keep  them  among  us  as  underlings?  Is  it  quite 
certain  that  this  betters  their  condition?  I  think  I 
would  not  hold  one  in  slavery  at  any  rate,  yet  the 
point  is  not  clear  enough  for  me  to  denounce  people 
upon.  What  next?  Free  them,  and  make  them 
politically  and  socially  our  equals?  My  own  feel- 
ings will  not  admit  of  this,  and  if  mine  would,  we 
well  know  that  those  of  the  great  mass  of  whites 
will  not.  Whether  this  feeling  accords  with  justice 
and  sound  judgment  is  not  the  sole  question,  if 
indeed  it  is  any  part  of  it.  A  universal  feeling, 
whether  well  or  ill  founded,  cannot  be  safely  dis- 
regarded. We  cannot  then  make  them  equals.  It 
does  seem  to  me  that  systems  of  gradual  emanci- 
pation might  be  adopted,  but  for  their  tardiness  it? 
this  I  will  not  undertake  to  judge  our  brethren  of 
the  South. 

When  they  remind  us  of  their  constitutional 
rights,  I  acknowledge  them — >not  grudgingly,  but 
fully  and  fairly ;  and  I  would  give  them  any  legisla- 
tion for  the  reclaiming  of  their  fugitives  which 
should  not  in  its  stringency  be  more  likely  to  carry 
a  free  man  into  slavery  than  our  ordinary  criminal 
laws  are  to   hang  an   innocent  one. 

But  all  this,  to  my  judgment,  furnishes  no  more 
excuse  for  permitting  slavery  to  go  into  our  own 
free  territory  than  it  would  for  reviving  the 
African  slave-trade  by  law.  The  law  which  for- 
bids the  bringing  of   slaves    from  Africa,   and  that 


72  LINCOLN 

which  has  so  long  forbidden  the  taking  of  them 
into  Nebraska,  can  hardly  be  distinguished  on  any 
moral  principle,  and  the  repeal  of  the  former  could 
find  quite  as  plausible  excuses  as  that  of  the  latter. 
Equal  justice  to  the  South,  it  is  said,  requires  us 
to  consent  to  the  extension  of  slavery  to  new  coun- 
tries. That  is  to  say,  inasmuch  as  you  do  not  object 
to  my  taking  my  hog  to  Nebraska,  therefore  I  must 
not  object  to  your  taking  your  slave.  Now,  I  ad- 
mit that  this  is  perfectly  logical,  if  there  is  no  dif- 
ference between  hogs  and  negroes.  But  while  you 
thus  require  me  to  deny  the  humanity  of  the  ne- 
gro, I  wish  to  ask  whether  you  of  the  South,  your- 
selves, have  ever  been  willing  to  do  as  much?  It 
is  kindly  provided  that  of  all  those  who  come  into 
the  world  only  a  small  percentage  are  natural 
tyrants.  That  percentage  is  no  larger  in  the  slave 
States  than  in  the  free.  The  great  majority  South, 
as  well  as  North,  have  human  sympathies,  of  which 
they  can  no  more  divest  themselves  than  they  can 
of  their  sensibility  to  physical  pain.  These  sympa- 
thies in  the  bosoms  of  the  Southern  people  mani- 
fest, in  many  ways,  their  sense  of  the  wrong  of 
slavery,  and  their  consciousness  that,  after  all,  there 
is  humanity  in  the  negro.  If  they  deny  this,  let  me 
address  them  a  few  plain  questions.  In  1820  you 
joined  the  North,  almost  unanimously,  in  declaring 
the  African  slave-trade  piracy,  and  in  annexing  to 
it  the  punishment  of  death.  Why  did  you  do  this? 
If  you  did  not  feel  that  it  was  wrong,  why  did  you 
join  in  providing  that  men  should  be  hung  for  it? 
The  practice  was  no   more  than  bringing  wild  ne- 


SPEECHES  73 

groes  from  Africa  to  such  as  would  buy  them.  But 
you  never  thought  of  hanging  men  for  catching 
and  selling  wild  horses,  wild  buffaloes,  or  wild  bears. 

Again,  you  have  among  you  a  sneaking  individual 
of  the  class  of  native  tyrants  known  as  the  "Slave- 
Dealer."  He  watches  your  necessities,  and  crawls 
up  to  buy  your  slave,  at  a  speculating  price.  If  you 
cannot  help  it,  you  sell  to  him;  but  if  you  can  help 
it,  you  drive  him  from  your  door.  You  despise  him 
utterly.  You  do  not  recognize  him  as  a  friend,  or 
even  as  an  honest  man.  Your  children  must  not 
play  with  his;  they  may  rollick  freely  with  the  little 
negroes,  but  not  with  the  slave-dealer's  children. 
If  you  are  obliged  to  deal  with  him,  you  try  to  get 
through  the  job  without  so  much  as  touching  him. 
It  is  common  with  you  to  join  hands  with  the  men 
you  meet,  but  with  the  slave-dealer  you  avoid  the 
ceremony — instinctively  shrinking  from  the  snaky 
contact.  If  he  grows  rich  and  retires  from  busi- 
ness, you  still  remember  him,  and  still  keep  up 
the  ban  of  non-intercourse  upon  him  and  his  fam- 
ily. Now  why  is  this?  You  do  not  so  treat  the 
man   who   deals    in   corn,   cotton,    or   tobacco. 

And  yet  again.  There  are  in  the  United  States 
and  Territories,  including  the  district  of  Columbia, 
433,643  free  blacks.  At  five  hundred  dollars  per 
head  they  are  worth  over  two  hundred  millions  of 
dollars.  How  come  this  vast  amount  of  property 
to  be  running  about  without  owners?  We  do  not 
see  free  horses  or  free  cattle  running  at  large.  How 
is  this?  All  these  free  blacks  are  the  descendants 
of  slaves,  or  have  been  slaves  themselves;  and  they 


74  LINCOLN 

would  be  slaves  now  but  for  something  which  has 
operated  on  their  white  owners,  inducing  them  at 
vast  peouniary  sacrifice  to  liberate  them.  What  is 
that  something?  Is  there  any  mistaking  it?  In 
all  these  cases  it  is  your  sense  of  justice  and  hu- 
man sympathy  continually  telling  you  that  the  poor 
negro  has  some  natural  right  to  himself — that  those 
who  deny  it  and  make  mere  merchandise  of  him 
deserve  kickings,  contempt,  and  death. 

And  now  why  will  you  ask  us  to  deny  the  hu- 
manity of  the  slaves,  and  estimate  him  as  only  the 
equal  of  the  hog?  Why  ask  us  to  do  what  you  will 
not  do  yourselves?  Why  ask  us  to  do  for  nothing 
what  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  could  not 
induce  you  to  do? 

ADDRESS  'OF  FAREWELL. 
Springfield,   Illinois,   11   February,  1861. 

My  Friends:  No  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can 
appreciate  my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To 
this  place,  and  the  kindness  of  these  people,  I  owe 
everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man. 
Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one  is  buried. 
I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I 
my  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater  than 
that  which  rested  upon  Washington.  Without  the 
assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended 
him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I 
cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  him  who  can  go  with  me, 
and  remain  with  you  and  be  everywhere  for  good, 


SPEECHES  75 

let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To 
his  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers 
you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate 
farewell. 

FIRST  INAUGURAL   ADDRESS. 
Washington,  4  March,  1861. 

Fellow-citizens  of  the  United  States :  In  compli- 
ance with  a  custom  as  old  as  the  government  itself, 
I  appear  before  you  to  address  you  briefly,  and  to 
take  in  your  presence  the  oath  prescribed  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  be  taken  by 
the  President  "before  he  enters  on  the  execution  of 
his  office." 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  at  present  for  me 
to  discuss  those  matters  of  administration  about 
which  there  is  no  special  anxiety  or  excitement. 

Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of 
the  Southern  States  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Re- 
publican administration  their  property  and  their 
peace  and  personal  security  are  to  be  endangered. 
There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such 
apprehension.  Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to 
the  contrary  has  all  the  while  existed  and  been 
open  to  their  inspection.  It  is  found  in  nearly  all 
the  published  speeches  of  him  who  now  addresses 
you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those  speeches 
when  I  declare  that  "I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no 
lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to 


'76  LINCOLN 

do  so."  Those  who  nominated  and  elected  me  did 
so  with  full  knowledge  that  I  had'  made  this  and 
many  similar  declarations,  and  had  never  recanted 
them.  And,  more  than  this,  they  placed  in  the 
platform  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a  law  to  them- 
selves and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic  resolution 
which   I   now   read: 

Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each 
State  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  insti- 
tutions according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively, 
is  essential  to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the 
perfection  and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric  de- 
pend, and  we  denounce  the  lawful  invasion  by 
armed  force  of  the  soil  of  any  State  or  Territory, 
no  matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest 
of   crimes. 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments;  and,  in  doing 
so,  I  only  press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most 
conclusive  evidence  of  which  the  case  is  susceptible, 
that  the  property,  peace,  and  security  of  no  section 
are  to  be  in  any  wise  endangered  by  the  now  incom- 
ing administration.  I  add,  too,  that  all  the  pro- 
tection which,  consistently  with  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws,  can  be  given,  will  be  cheerfully  given 
to  all  the  States  when  lawfully  demanded,  for  what- 
ever cause — as  cheerfully  to  one  section  as  to  an- 
other. 

There  is  much  controversy  about  the  delivering 
up  of  fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  The  clause 
I  now  read  is  as  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution 
as  any  other  of  its  provisions: 


SPEECHES  77 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State, 
under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall 
in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall 
be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision  was 
intended  by  those  who  made  it  for  the  reclaiming 
of  what  we  call  fugitive  slaves;  and  the  intention 
of  the  lawgiver  is  the  law.  All  members  of  Con- 
gress swear  their  support  to  the  whole  Constitution 
— to  this  provision  as  much  as  any  other.  To  the 
proposition,  then,  that  slaves  whose  cases  come 
within  the  terms  of  this  clause  "shall  be  delivered 
up,"  their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now,  if  they  would 
make  the  effort  in  good  temper,  could  they  not  with 
nearly  equal  unanimity  frame  and  pass  a  law  by 
means  of  which  to  keep  good  that  unanimous  oath? 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether  this 
clause  should  be  enforced  by  national  or  by  State 
authority;  but  surely  that  difference  is  not  a  very 
material  one.  If  the  slave  is  to  be  surrendered,  it 
can  be  but  of  little  consequence  to  him  or  to  others 
by  which  authority  it  is  done.  And  should  any  one 
in  any  case  be  content  that  his  oath  shall  be  unkept 
on  a  merely  unsubstantial  controversy  as  to  how 
it  shall  be  kept? 

Again,  in  any  law  upon  this  subject,  ought  not 
all  the  safeguards  of  liberty  known  in  civilized  and 
humane  jurisprudence  to  be  introduced,  so  that  a 
free  man  be  not,  in  any  case,  surrendered  as  a  slave  ? 
And  might  it  not  be  well  at  the  same  time  to  pro- 


78  LINCOLN 

vide  by  law  for  the  enforcement  of  that  clause  in 
the  Constitution  which  guarantees  that  "the  citizen 
of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States"? 

I  take  the  official  oath  today  with  no  mental  reser- 
vations, and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Con- 
stitution or  laws,  by  any  hypocritical  rules.  And 
while  I  do  not  choose  now  to  specify  particular  acts 
of  Congress  as  proper  to  be  enforced,  I  do  suggest 
that  it  will  be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in  official  and 
private  stations,  to  conform  to  and  abide  by  all  those 
acts  which  stand  unrepealed,  than  to  violate  any  of 
them,  trusting  to  find  impunity  in  having  them  held 
to  be  unconstitutional. 

It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inauguration 
of  a  President  under  our  National  Constitution. 
During  that  period  fifteen  different  and  greatly  dis- 
tinguished citizens  have,  in  succession,  administered 
the  executive  branch  of  the  government.  They 
have  conducted  it  through  many  perils  and  gen- 
erally with  great  success.  Yet,  with  all  this  scope 
of  precedent,  I  now  enter  upon  the  same  task  for 
the  brief  constitutional  term  of  four  years  under 
great  and  peculiar  difficulty.  A  disruption  of  the 
Federal  Union,  heretofore  only  menaced,  is  now 
formidably   attempted. 

I  hold  that,  in  contemplation  of  universal  law  and 
of  the  Constitution,  the  Union  of  these  States  is 
perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not  expressed, 
in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national  governments. 
It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  government  proper  ever 
had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its  own  ter- 


SPEECHES  79 

mination.  Continue  to  execute  all  the  express  pro- 
visions of  our  National  Constitution,  and  the  Union 
will  endure  forever — it  being  impossible  to  destroy 
it  except  by  some  action  not  provided  for  in  the 
instrument   itself. 

Again,  if  the  United  States  be  not  a  government 
proper,  but  an  association  of  States  in  the  nature  of 
contract  merely,  can  it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably 
unmade  by  less  than  all  the  parties  who  made  it? 
One  party  to  a  contract  may  violate  it — break  it,  so 
to  speak;  but  does  it  not  require  all  to  lawfully  re- 
scind it? 

Descending  from  these  general  principles,  we  find 
the  proposition  that  in  legal  contemplation  the 
Union  is  perpetual  confirmed  by  the  history  of  the 
Union  itself.  The  Union  is  much  older  than  the 
Constitution.  It  was  formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles 
of  Association  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and  con- 
tinued by  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776. 
It  was  further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the 
then  thirteen  States  expressly  plighted  and  engaged 
that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation in  1778.  And,  finally,  in  1787  one  of  the 
declared  objects  for  ordaining  and  establishing  the 
Constitution  was   "to   form  a  more  perfect  Union." 

But  if  the  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or 
by  a  part  only  of  the  States  be  lawfully  possible,  the 
Union  is  less  perfect  than  before  the  Constitution, 
having   lost   the   vital   element   of   perpetuity. 

It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  State  upon 
its  own  mere  motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the 
Union ;    that   resolves   and   ordinances   to   that   effect 


80  LINCOLN 

are  legally  void;  and  that  acts  of  violence,  within 
any  State  or  States,  against  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  are  insurrectionary  or  revolutionary, 
according   to   circumstances. 

I  therefore  consider  that,  in  view  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken;  and 
to  the  extent  of  my  ability  I  shall  take  care,  as  the 
Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me,  that 
the  laws  of  the  Union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all 
the  States.  Doing  this  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple 
duty  on  my  part;  and  I  shall  perform  it  so  far  as 
practicable,  unless  my  rightful  masters,  the  American 
people,  shall  withhold  the  requisite  means,  or  in 
some  authoritative  manner  direct  the  contrary.  I 
trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  menace,  but  only 
as  the  declared  purpose  of  the  Union  that  it  will 
constitutionally  defend  and  maintain  itself. 

In  doing  this  there  needs  to  be  no  bloodshed  or 
violence;  and  there  shall  be  none,  unless  it  be 
forced  upon  the  national  authority.  The  power  con- 
fided in  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess 
the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts;  but 
beyond  what  may  be  necessary  for  these  objects, 
there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force  against 
or  among  the  people  anywhere.  Where  hostility 
to  the  United  States,  in  any  interior  locality,  shall 
be  so  great  and  universal  as  to  prevent  competent 
resident  citizens  from  holding  the  Federal  offices, 
there  will  be  no  attempt  to  force  obnoxious  strangers 
among  the  people  for  that  object.  While  the  strict 
legal  right  may  exist  in  the  government  to  enforce 


SPEECHES  81 

the  exercise  of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so 
would  be  so  irritating,  and  so  nearly  impracticable 
withal,  that  I  deem  it  better  to  forego  for  the  time 
the  uses  of  such  offices. 

The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to  be 
furnished  in  all  parts  of  the  Union.  So  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  people  everywhere  shall  have  that  sense 
of  perfect  security  which  is  most  favorable  to  calm 
thought  and  reflection.  The  course  here  indicated 
will  be  followed  unless  current  events  and  expe- 
rience will  show  a  modification  or  change  to  be 
proper,  and  in  every  case  and  exigency  my  best 
discretion  will  be  exercised  according  to  circum- 
stances actually  existing,  and  with  a  view  and  a 
hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  national  troubles 
and  the  restoration  of  fraternal  sympathies  and  af- 
fections. 

That  there  are  persons  in  one  section  or  another 
who  seek  to  destroy  the  Union  at  all  events,  and 
are  glad  of  any  pretext  to  do  it,  I  will  neither  affirm 
nor  deny;  but  if  there  be  such,  I  need  address  no 
word  to  them.  To  those,  however,  who  really  love 
the   Union   may   I   not   speak? 

Before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter  as  the 
destruction  of  our  national  fabric,  with  all  its  bene- 
fits, its  memories,  and  its  hopes,  would  it  not  be 
wise  to  ascertain  precisely  why  we  do  it?  Will 
you  hazard  so  desperate  a  step  while  there  is  any 
possibility  that  any  portion  of  the  ills  you  fly  from 
have  no  real  existence.  Will  you,  while  the  certain 
ills  you  fly  to  are  greater  than  all  the  real  ones  you 


82  LINCOLN 

fly  from —  will  you  risk  the  commission  of  so  fear- 
ful a  mistake? 

All  profess  to  be  content  in  the  Union  if  all  con- 
stitutional rights  can  be  maintained.  It  is  true, 
then,  that  any  right,  plainly  written  in  the  constitu- 
tion, has  been  denied?  I  think  not.  Happily  the 
human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  no  party  can 
reach  to  the  audacity  of  doing  this.  Think,  if  you 
can,  of  a  single  instance  in  which  a  plainly  written 
provision  of  the  Constitution  has  ever  been  denied. 
If  by  the  mere  force  of  numbers  a  majority  should 
deprive  a  minority  of  any  clearly  written  constitu- 
tional right,  it  might,  in  a  moral  point  of  view, 
justify  revolution — certainly  would  if  such  a  right 
were  a  vital  one.  But  such  is  not  our  case.  All 
the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  individuals  are 
so  plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and  nega- 
tions, guaranties  and  prohibitions,  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, that  controversies  never  arise  concerning  them. 
But  no  organic  law  can  ever  be  framed  with  a  pro- 
vision specifically  applicable  to  every  question  which 
may  occur  in  practical  administration.  No  fore- 
sight can  anticipate,  nor  any  document  of  reason- 
able length  contain,  express  provisions  for  all  pos- 
sible questions.  Shall  fugitives  from  labor  be  sur- 
rendered by  national  or  by  State  authority?  The 
Constitution  does  not  expressly  say.  May  Congress 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories?  The  Constitu- 
tion does  not  expressly  say.  Must  Congress  protect 
slavery  in  the  Territories?  The  Constitution  does 
not  expressly   say. 

From  questions  of  this  class  spring  all  our  con- 


SPEECHES  83 

stitutional  controversies,  and  we  divide  upon  them 
into  majorities  and  minorities.  If  the  minority  will 
not  acquiesce,  the  majority  must,  or  the  government 
must  cease.  There  is  no  other  alternative;  for  con- 
tinuing the  government  is  acquiescence  on  one  side 
or  the  other. 

If  a  minority  in  such  case  will  secede  rather  than 
acquiesce,  they  make  a  precedent  which  in  turn  will 
divide  and  ruin  them;  for  a  minority  of  their  own 
will  secede  from  them  whenever  a  majority  refuses 
to  be  controlled  by  such  minority.  For  instance, 
why  may  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy  a 
year  or  two  hence  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely 
as  portions  of  the  present  union  now  claim  to  secede 
from  it?  All  who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are 
now  being  educated  to  the  exact  temper  of  doing 
this. 

Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests  among 
the  States  to  compose  a  new  Union,  as  to  produce 
harmony  only,  and  prevent  renewed  secession? 

Plainly,  the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence 
of  anarchy.  A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  con- 
stitutional checks  and  limitations,  and  always  chang- 
ing easily  with  deliberate  changes  of  popular  opin- 
ions and  sentiments,  is  the  only  true  sovereign  of 
a  free  people.  Whoever  rejects  it  does,  of  neces- 
sity, fly  to  anarchy  or  to  despotism.  Unanimity  is 
impossible;  the  rule  of  a  minority,  as  a  permanent 
arrangement,  is  wholly  inadmissible;  so  that,  re- 
jecting the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or  despotism 
in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left. 

I   do   not    forget   the  position,   assumed  by   some, 


84  LINCOLN 

that  constitutional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by 
the  Supreme  Court;  nor  do  I  deny  that  such  decis- 
ions must  be  binding,  in  any  case,  upon  the  parties 
to  a  suit,  as  to  the  object  of  that  suit,  while  they 
are  also  entitled  to  very  high  respect  and  considera- 
tion in  all  parallel  cases  by  all  other  departments 
of  the  government.  And  while  it  is  obviously  pos- 
sible that  such  decision  may  be  erroneous  in  any 
given  case,  still  the  evil  effect  following  it,  being 
limited  to  that  particular  case,  with  the  chance  that 
it  may  be  overruled  and  never  become  a  -precedent 
for  other  cases,  can  better  be  borne  than  could  the 
evils  of  a  different  practice.  At  the  same  time,  the 
candid  citizen  must  confess  that  if  the  policy  of  the 
government,  upon  vital  questions  affecting  the  whole 
people,  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed  by  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  the  instant  they  are  made,  in  ordi- 
nary litigation  between  parties  in  personal  actions, 
the  people  will  have  ceased  to  be  their  own  rulers, 
having  to  that  extent  practically  resigned  their  gov- 
ernment into  the  hands  of  that  eminent  tribunal. 
Nor  is  there  in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  court 
or  the  judges.  It  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may 
not  shrink  to  decide  cases  properly  brought  before 
them,  and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  others  seek  to 
turn   their  decisions   to  political  purposes. 

One  section  of  our  country  believes  slavery  is 
right,  and  ought  to  be  extended,  while  the  other 
believe  it  is  wrong,  and  ought  not  to  be  extended. 
This  is  the  only  substantial  dispute.  The  fugitive- 
slave  clause  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  law  for  the 
suppression  of  the   foreign   slave-trade,  are  each  as 


SPEECHES  85 

well  enforced,  perhaps,  as  any  law  can  ever  be  in 
a  community  where  the  moral  sense  of  the  people 
imperfectly  supports  the  law  itself.  The  great  body 
of  the  people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obligation  in 
both  cases,  and  a  few  break  over  in  each.  This,  I 
think,  cannot  be  perfectly  cured;  and  it  would  be 
worse  in  both  cases  after  the  separations  of  the 
sections  than  before.  The  foreign  slave-trade,  now 
imperfectly  suppressed,  would  be  ultimately  revived, 
without  restriction,  in  one  section,  while  fugitive 
slaves,  now  only  partially  surrendered,  would  not  be 
surrendered  at  all  by  the  other. 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate.  We  can- 
not remove  our  respective  sections  from  each  other, 
nor  build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  hus- 
band and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the 
presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other;  but 
the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this. 
They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face,  and  inter- 
course, either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue 
between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that 
intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satisfactory 
after  separation  than  before?  Can  aliens  make 
treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws?  Can 
treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens 
than  laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to 
war,  you  cannot  fight  always;  and  when,  after  much 
loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease 
fighting,  the  identical  old  question  as  to  terms  of 
intercourse  are  again  upon  you. 

This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the 
people   who    inhabit   it.    Whenever  they   shall   grow 


86  LINCOLN 

weary  of  the  existing  government,  they  can  exer- 
cise their  constitutional  right  of  amending  it,  or 
their  revolutionary  right  to  dismember  or  overthrow 
it.  I  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  many 
worthy  and  patriotic  citizens  are  desirous  of  having 
the  National  Constitution  amended.  While  I  make 
no  recommendation  of  amendments,  I  fully  recog- 
nize the  rightful  authority  of  the  people  over  the 
whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in  either  of  the  modes 
prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself;  and  I  should, 
under  existing  circumstances,  favor  rather  than 
oppose  a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the  people 
to  act  upon  it.  I  will  venture  to  add  that  to  me 
the  convention  mode  seems  preferable,  in  that  it 
allows  amendments  to  originate  with  the  people 
themselves,  instead  of  only  permitting  them  to  take 
or  reject  propositions  originated  by  others  not  es- 
pecially chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  which  might 
not  be  precisely  such  as  they  would  wish  to  either 
accept  or  refuse.  I  understand  a  proposed  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution — which  amendment,  how- 
ever, I  have  not  seen —  has  passed  Congress,  to  the 
effect  that  the  Federal  Government  shall  never  in- 
terfere with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  States, 
including  that  of  persons  held  to  service.  To  avoid 
misconstruction  of  what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from 
my  purpose  not  to  speak  of  particular  amendments 
so  far  as  to  say  that,  holding  such  a  provision  to 
now  be  implied  constitutional  law,  I  have  no  ob- 
jection to  its  being  made  express  and  irrevocable. 
The  chief  magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from 
the  people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him 


SPEECHES  XV 

to  fix  terms  for  the  separation  of  the  States.  The 
people  themselves  can  do  this  also  if  they  choose; 
but  the  executive,  as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
His  duty  is  to  administer  the  present  government, 
as  it  came  to  his  hands,  and  to  transmit  it,  unim- 
paired by  him,  to  his  successor. 

Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence  in 
the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people?  Is  there  any 
better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world?  In  our  present 
differences  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being  in 
the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with 
his  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the 
North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and 
that  justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of 
this   great   tribunal    of   the   American   people. 

By  the  frame  of  the  government  under  which  we 
live,  this  same  people  have  wisely  given  their  pub- 
lic servants  but  little  power  for  mischief;  and  have 
with  equal  wisdom,  provided  for  the  return  of  that 
little  to  their  own  hands  at  very  short  intervals. 
While  the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigilance, 
no  administration,  by  any  extreme  of  wickedness 
or  folly,  can  very  seriously  injure  the  government 
in   the   short  space  of    four   years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well 
upon  this  whole  subject.  Nothing  valuable  can  be 
lost  by  taking  time.  If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry 
any  of  you  in  hot  haste  to  a  step  which  you  would 
never  take  deliberately,  that  object  will  be  frustrated 
by  taking  time;  but  no  good  object  can  be  frus- 
trated by  it.  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied, 
still  have  the  old   Constitution  unimpaired,  and,  on 


88  LINCOLN 

every  sensitive  point,  the  laws  of  your  own  framing 
under  it;  while  the  new  administration  will  have  no 
immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to  change  either.  If  it 
were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold 
the  right  side  in  the  dispute,  there  still  is  no  single 
good  reason  for  precipitate  action.  Intelligence, 
patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him 
who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are 
still  competent  to  adjust  in  the  best  way  all  our 
present  difficulty. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen, 
and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil 
war.  The  government  will  not  assail  you.  You 
can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the 
aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven 
to  destroy  the  government,  while  I  shall  have  the 
most  solemn  one  to  "preserve,  protect,  and  de- 
fend it." 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  pas- 
sion may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds 
of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretch- 
ing from  every  battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to  every 
living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land, 
will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union  when  again 
touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels 
of  our  nature. 


SPEECHES  89 

FINAL     EMANCIPATION     PROCLAMATION. 
1   January,    1863. 

Whereas,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-two,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  containing-,  among 
other  things,   the   following,  to  wit: 

That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State, 
or  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
shall  be  then,  thenceforward,  and  forever,  free;  and 
the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States, 
including  the  military  and  naval  authority  thereof, 
will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such 
persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such 
persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may 
make   for  their  actual   freedom. 

That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  Jan- 
uary aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States 
and  parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people 
thereof  respectively  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States;  and  the  fact  that  any  State,  or 
the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that  day  be  in  good 
faith  represented  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elections  wherein 
a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such  State 
shall  have  participated,  shall  in  the  absence  of 
strong  countervailing  testimony  be  deemed  conclusive 


90  LINCOLN 

evidence  that  such  State  and  the  people  thereof  are 
not  then  in  rebellion  against  the   United   States. 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me 
vested  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy 
of  the  United  States,  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebel- 
lion against  the  authority  and  government  of  the 
United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  meas- 
ure for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first 
day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed 
for  the  full  period  of  100  days  from  the  day  first 
above  mentioned,  order  and  designate  as  the  States 
and  parts  of  States  wherein  the  people  thereof,  re- 
spectively, are  this  day  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  the  following,  to  wit: 

Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana  (except  the  parishes 
of  St.  Bernard,  Plaquemines,  Jefferson,  St.  John, 
St.  Charles,  St.  James,  Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre 
Bonne,  Lafourche,  St.  Mary,  St.  Martin,  and  Orleans, 
including  the  city  of  New  Orleans),  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North 
Carolina,  and  Virginia  (except  the  forty-eight  coun- 
ties designated  as  West  Virginia,  and  also  the  coun- 
ties of  Berkeley,  Accomac,  Northampton,  Elizabeth 
City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Norofolk,  including 
the  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth),  and  which 
excepted  parts  are  for  the  present  left  precisely  as 
if  this  proclamation  were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid,   I   do  order  and   declare   that  all  persons 


SPEECHES  91 

held  as  slaves  within  said  designated  States  and 
parts  of  States  are,  and  henceforward  shall  be,  free; 
and  that  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authorities 
thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of 
said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared 
to  be  free  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in 
necessary  self-defense;  and  I  recommend  to  them 
that,  in  all  cases  when  allowed,  they  labor  faithfully 
for  reasonable   wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such 
persons  of  suitable  condition  will  be  received  into 
the  armed  service  of  the  United  States  to  garrison 
forts,  positions,  stations,  and  other  places,  and  to 
man   vessels   of   all   sorts   in   said   service. 

And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an 
act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution  upon 
military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judg- 
ment of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Al- 
mighty God. 

ADDRESS   AT    THE   DEDICATION    OF    THE 

GETTYSBURG  NATIONAL  CEMETERY, 

19   November,   1863. 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers 
brought  forth  on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  con- 
ceived in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition 
that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and 
so   dedicated   can    long   endure.     We   are   met    on   a 


92  LINCOLN 

great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting- 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that 
nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper 
that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — we 
cannot  consecrate — we  cannot  hallow — this  ground. 
The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here, 
have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  poor  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note  nor  long 
remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget 
what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather, 
to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which 
they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  ad- 
vanced. It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to 
the  great  task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these 
honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this  nation, 
under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and 
that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 
Washington,  4  March,  1865. 

Fellow  Countrymen:  At  this  second  appearing  to 
take  the  oath  of  the  presidential  office,  there  is  less 
occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there  was 
at  the  first.  Then  a  statement,  somewhat  in  detail, 
of  a  course  to  be  pursued,  seemed  fitting  and  proper. 


SPEECHES  93 

Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which 
public  declarations  have  been  constantly  called  forth 
on  every  point  and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which 
still  absorbs  the  attention  and  engrosses  the  ener- 
gies of  the  nation,  little  that  is  new  could  be  pre- 
sented. The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which  all 
else  chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public 
as  to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory 
and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the 
future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years 
ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  im- 
pending civil  war.  All  dreaded  it — .all  sought  to 
avert  it.  While  the  inaugural  address  was  being 
delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  altogether  to 
saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent  agents 
were  in  the  city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war 
— seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  divide  effects, 
by  negotiation.  Both  parties  deprecated  war;  but 
one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the 
nation  survive;  and  the  other  would  accept  war 
rather  than  let  it  perish.    And  the  war  came. 

One-eigth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored 
slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but 
localized  in  the  Southern  part  of  it.  These  slaves 
constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful  interest.  All 
knew  that  this  interest  was,  somehow,  the  cause  of 
the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  extend  this 
interest  was  the  object  for  which  the  insurgents 
would  rend  the  Union,  even  by  war;  while  the 
government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more  than  to 
restrict  the  territorial   enlargement  of  it 


94  LINCOLN 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude 
or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither 
anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict  might 
cease  with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict  itself  should 
cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph,  and  a 
result  less  fundamental  and  astounding.  Both  read 
the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God;  and 
each  invokes  his  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's 
assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat 
of  other  men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we 
be  not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be 
answered — that  of  neither  has  been  answered   fully. 

The  Almighty  has  his  own  purposes.  "Woe  unto 
the  world  because  of  offenses !  for  it  must  needs  be 
that  offenses  come;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom 
the  offense  cometh."  If  we  shall  suppose  that 
American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which, 
having  continued  through  his  appointed  time,  he 
now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  he  gives  to  both 
North  and  South  this  terrible  war,  as  the  woe  due 
to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  dis- 
cern therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  at- 
tributes which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always 
ascribe  to  him?  Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do 
we  pray — that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may 
speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as 


SPEECHES  95 

was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must 
be  said,  "The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether." 

With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all; 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see 
the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are 
in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him 
who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow, 
and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves 
and  with  all  nations. 


ANECDOTES 

Lincoln's  Pardons. 

Such  was  the  serious  side  of  Lincoln's  Presi- 
dency; but  woven  all  through  it  was  the  relief  of 
his  humor — his  amusing  stories — and  his  humanity — 
which  found  opportunity  for  constant  exercise  in  the 
almost  daily  private  tragedies  that  came  under  his 
personal  notice. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  how  Lincoln  pardoned 
deserters  and  others  condemned  to  death,  and  many 
of  these  are  pure  romance,  devoid  of  the  slightest 
truth.  In  his  Reminiscences  General  Butler  tells 
the  following  anecdote.  He  said  to  the  President, 
"The  bounties  which  are  now  being  paid  to  new 
recruits  cause  very  large  desertions.  Men  desert 
and  go  home,  and  get  the  bounties  and  enlist  in  other 
regiments." 


96  LINCOLN 

"  'That  is  too  true,'  he  replied,  'but  how  can  we 
prevent  it?' 

"  'By  vigorously  shooting  every  man  who  is  caught 
as  a  deserter,  until  it  is  found  to  be  a  dangerous 
business.' 

"A  saddened,  weary  look  came  over  his  face 
which  I  had  never  seen  before,  and  he  slowly  re- 
plied,— 

"  'You  may  be  right — probably  you  are  so ;  but, 
God  help  me !  how  can  I  have  a  butcher's  day 
every  Friday  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac?'" 

Perhaps  the  best  known  story  of  Lincoln's  par- 
dons, and  the  one  most  truly  characteristic  of  the 
man,  is  that  of  Scott,  the  Vermonter,  who  slept  at 
his  post  when  on  sentry  duty.  He  had  taken  the 
place  of  a  sick  comrade  one  night,  and  the  very  next 
night  was  drafted  himself.  He  said  frankly  he  was 
afraid  he  couldn't  keep  awake  two  nights  in  suc- 
cession, but  if  it  was  his  duty  he  would  do  his  best. 

The  hostile  armies  lay  close  together,  and  the 
pickets  of  the  two  armies  had  been  almost  on 
friendly  terms.  To  correct  this  demoralization  Gen- 
eral Smith  had  issued  a  stringent  order,  and  when 
Scott  was  found  fast  asleep  at  his  post  he  was 
singled  out  as  the  first  victim  and  was  ordered  to 
be  shot. 

Scott's  comrades  knew  there  was  no  braver  man 
in  the  regiment  than  this  Vermont  farmer,  and  the 
captain  of  his  company  with  a  few  others  started 
out  at  once  to  Washington  to  see  Mr.  L.  E.  Chitten- 
den,  who   tells   the   story   most  authentically   in  his 


ANECDOTES  97 

Reminiscences.   The  boys  were  taken  to  the  President, 
who   opened  the   conversation   by   asking, 

"What  is  this?  Another  expedition  to  kidnap 
somebody,  or  to  get  another  brigadier  appointed, 
or  for  a  furlough  to  go  home  to  vote?  I  cannot 
do  it,  gentlemen.  Brigadiers  are  thicker  than  drum- 
majors,  and  I  couldn't  get  a  furlough  for  myself 
if  I  asked  it  from  the  War  Department." 

When  the  little  captain  had  stated  Scott's  case,  he 
ended,  "He  is  as  brave  a  boy  as  there  is  in  your  army, 
sir.  Scott  is  no  coward.  Our  mountains  breed 
no  cowards.  They  are  the  homes  of  thirty  thousand 
men  who  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  They  will 
not  be  able  to  see  that  the  best  thing  to  be  done 
with  William  Scott  will  be  to  shoot  him  like  a 
traitor  and  bury  him  like  a  dog!  Oh,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
can  you?" 

"No,  I  can't!"  exclaimed  the  President.  It  was 
one  of  the  moments  when  his  countenance  became 
such  a  remarkable  study.  It  had  become  very  ear- 
nest as  the  captain  rose  with  his  subject;  then  it 
took  on  that  melancholy  expression  which,  later  in 
his  life,  became  so  infinitely  touching.  I  thought 
I  could  detect  a  mist  in  the  deep  cavities  of  his 
e3*es.  Then,  in  a  flash,  there  was  a  total  change. 
He  smiled,  and  finally  broke  into  a  hearty  laugh  as 
he  asked  me, 

"Do  your  Green  Mountain  boys  fight  as  well  as 
they  talk?  If  they  do,  I  don't  wonder  at  the 
legends  about  Ethan  Allen."  Then  his  face  softened 
as  he  said,  "What  do  you  expect  me  to  do?   As  you 


98  LINCOLN 

know,  I  have  not  much  influence  with  the  depart- 
ments." 

A  reprieve  was  suggested  to  permit  an  examina- 
tion of  the  case. 

"No!"  exclaimed  Lincoln,  "I  do  not  think  that 
course  would  be  safe.  You  do  not  know  these 
officers  of  the  regular  army.  They  are  a  law  unto 
themselves.  They  sincerely  think  that  it  is  good 
policy  occasionally  to  shoot  a  soldier.  I  can  see 
it,  where  a  soldier  deserts  or  commits  a  crime, 
but  I  cannot  in  such  a  case  as  Scott's.  They  say 
that  I  am  always  interfering  with  the  discipline  of  the 
army,  and  being  cruel  to  the  soldiers.  Well,  I  can't 
help  it,  so  I  shall  have  to  go  right  on  doing  wrong. 
I  do  not  think  an  honest,  brave  soldier,  conscious  of 
no  crime  but  sleeping  when  he  was  weary,  ought 
to  be  shot  or  hung.  The  country  has  better  uses 
for  him. 

"Captain,"  continued  the  President,  "your  boy 
shall  not  be  shot — that  is,  not  to-morrow,  nor  until 
I  know  more  about  this  case."  To  me  he  said,  "I 
will  have  to  attend  to  this  matter  myself.  I  have 
for  some  time  intended  to  go  up  to  the  Chain 
Bridge.  I  will  do  so  to-day.  I  shall  then  know 
that  there  is  no  mistake  in  suspending  the  execu- 
tion." 

I  remarked  that  he  was  undertaking  a  burden 
which  we  had  no  right  to  impose;  that  it  was 
asking  too  much  of  the  President  in  behalf  of  a 
private   soldier. 

"Scott's  life  is  as  valuable  to  him  as  that  of  any 
person   in   the   land,"   he   said.    "You   remember   the 


ANECDOTES  99 

remark  of  a  Scotchman  about  the  head  of  a  noble- 
man who  was  decapitated, — "It  was  a  small  matter 
of  a  head,  but  it  was  valuable  to  him,  poor  fellow, 
for   it   was   the  only   one   he   had." 

During  the  day  Lincoln  went  out  to  the  camp. 
Scott  afterward  told  a  comrade  the  story  of  his 
interview  with  the  President.  Said  he,  "The  Presi- 
dent was  the  kindest  man  I  had  ever  seen.  I  knew 
him  at  once  by  a  Lincoln  medal  I  had  long  worn. 
I  was  scared  at  first,  for  I  had  never  before  talked 
with  a  great  man.  But  .Mr.  Lincoln  was  so  easy 
with  me,  so  gentle,  that  I  soon  forgot  my  fright.  He 
asked  me  all  about  my  people  at  home,  the  neighbors, 
the  farm  ,and  where  I  went  to  school,  and  who  my 
schoolmates  were.  Then  he  asked  me  about  mother, 
and  how  she  looked,  and  I  was  glad  I  could  take 
her  photograph  from  my  bosom  and  show  it  to  him. 
He  said  how  thankful  I  ought  to  be  that  mother 
still  lived,  and  how,  if  he  was  in  my  place,  he  would 
try  to  make  her  a  proud  mother,  and  never  cause 
her  a  sorrow  or  a  tear.  I  cannot  remember  it  all, 
but  every  word  was  so  kind. 

"He  had  said  nothing  yet  about  that  dreadful  next 
morning.  I  thought  it  must  be  that  he  was  so  kind- 
hearted  that  he  didn't  like  to  speak  of  it.  But 
why  did  he  say  so  much  about  my  mother,  and 
not  causing  her  a  sorrow  or  a  tear  when  I  knew 
that  I  must  die  the  next  morning?  But  I  supposed 
that  was  something  that  would  have  to  go  unex- 
plained, and  so  I  determined  to  brace  up,  and  tell 
him  that  I  did  not  feel  a  bit  guilty,  and  ask  him 
wouldn't    he    fix    it    so    that    the    firing-party    would 


100  LINCOLN 

not  be  from  our  regiment !  That  was  going  to  be 
the  hardest  of  all — to  die  by  the  hands  of  my 
comrades. 

"Just  as  I  was  going  to  ask  him  this  favor,  he 
stood  up,  and  he  says  to  me,  'my  boy,  stand  up  here 
and  look  me  in  the  face.'  I  did  as  he  bade  me.  'My 
boy,'  he  said,  'you  are  not  going  to  be  shot  to- 
morrow. I  believe  you  when  you  tell  me  you  could 
not  keep  awake.  I  am  going  to  trust  you,  and  send 
you  back  to  your  regiment.  But  I  have  been  put 
to  a  good  deal  of  trouble  on  your  account.  I  have 
had  to  come  up  here  from  Washington  when  I 
have  a  great  deal  to  do,  and  what  I  want  to  know 
is,  how  are  you  going  to  pay  my  bill?'  There  was 
a  big  lump  in  my  throat ;  I  could  scarcely  speak.  I 
had  expected  to  die,  you  see,  and  had  kind  of  got 
used  to  thinking  that  way.  To  have  it  all  changed 
in  a  minute !  But  I  got  it  crowded  down,  and 
managed  to  say,  I  am  grateful,  Mr.  Lincoln!  I 
hope  I  am  as  grateful  as  ever  a  man  can  be  for 
saving  my  life.  But  it  comes  upon  me  sudden  and 
unexpected  like.  I  didn't  lay  out  for  it  at  all.  But 
there  is  some  way  to  pay  you,  and  I  will  find  it  after 
a  little.  There  is  the  bounty  in  the  savings  bank. 
I  guess  we  could  borrow  some  money  on  a  mort- 
gage of  the  farm.  There  was  my  pay  was  some- 
thing, and  if  he  could  wait  until  pay-day  I  was  sure 
the  boys  would  help,  so  I  thought  we  could  make 
it  up,  if  it  wasn't  more  than  five  or  six  hundred 
dollars.  'But  it  is  a  great  deal  more  than  that,'  he 
said.  Then  I  said  I  didn't  see  just  now,  but  I  was 
sure  I  would  find  some  way — if  I  lived. 


ANECDOTES  101 

"Then  Mr.  Lincoln  put  his  hands  on  my  should- 
ers and  looked  into  my  face  as  if  he  was  very  sorry 
and  said,  'My  boy,  my  bill  is  a  very  large  one. 
Your  friends  cannot  pay  it,  nor  your  bounty,  nor  the 
farm,  nor  all  your  comrades.  There  is  only  one  man 
in  all  the  world  who  can  pay  it,  and  his  name  is 
William  Scott.  If  from  this  day  William  Scott  does 
his  duty,  so  that,  if  I  was  there  when  he  comes 
to  die,  he  can  look  me  in  the  face  as  he  does 
now,  and  say,  I  have  kept  my  promise,  and  I 
have  done  my  duty  as  a  soldier,  then  my  debt  will 
be  paid.  Will  you  make  that  promise  and  try  to 
keep    it?" 

William  Scott  kept  his  promise.  He  had  this  in- 
terview with  Lincoln  in  September,  18G1.  The  fol- 
lowing spring  in  March,  18G2,  Scott  was  shot  in 
battle  before  the  entrenchments  at  Lee's  Mills,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Yorktown.  A  desperate  charge  was 
ordered,  and  the  Vermont  regiment  dashed  against 
one  of  the  strongest  positions  in  the  Confederate 
line.  They  were  repulsed,  and  retreated  under  a 
heavy  fire,  leaving  nearly  half  their  number  dead 
or  wounded  in  the  river  and  on  the  opposite  shore. 

William  Scott  was  almost  the  first  to  reach  the 
south  bank  of  the  river,  the  first  in  the  riflepits, 
and  the  last  to  retreat.  He  recrossed  the  river 
with  a  wounded  officer  on  his  back — he  carried  him 
to  a  place  of  safety,  and  returned  to  assist  his 
comrades,  who  did  not  agree  on  the  number  of 
wounded  men  saved  by  him  from  drowning  or  cap- 
ture, but  all  agreed  that  he  had  carried  the  last 
wounded  man  from  the  south  bank,  and  was  nearly 


102  LINCOLN 

across  the  stream,  when  the  fire  of  the  rebels  was 
concentrated  upon  him,  he  staggered  with  his  living 
burden  to  the  shore,  and  fell  literally  shot  all  to 
pieces. 

So  it  was  that  he  paid  his  debt  to  President 
Lincoln. 

Lincoln's   Own    Stories. 

Lincoln  was  a  tireless  worker.  He  loaded  his 
Cabinet  and  his  secretaries  to  the  limit  of  their 
strength,  but  was  always  considerate  and  thoughtful 
of  their  comfort.  Three  of  his  secretaries  lived  with 
him  in  the  White  House  and  usually  worked  far 
into  the  night,  and,  even  after  their  labors  for  the 
day  had  closed,  Lincoln  would  often  wander  around 
barefooted  and  in  his  night-shirt,  too  wakeful  to 
seek  his  own  bed,  and  read  poems  from  Burns,  jokes 
from  Artemus  Ward,  and  the  letters  of  Petroleum 
V.    Nasby  to  the   members  of  his  household. 

His  sense  of  humor  was  his  salvation.  It  was 
the  safety  valve  by  which  his  heart  was  relieved. 
He  was  melancholy  by  nature  and  inclined  to  be 
morbid,  and  it  was  this  keen  enjoyment  of  the  ridi- 
culous that  enabled  him  to  endure  with  patience 
his  official  trials  and  anxieties.  Says  Chauncey  M. 
Depew  in  his  recollections  of  Lincoln,  "The  Presi- 
dent threw  himself  on  a  lounge  and  rattled  off 
story  after  story.  It  was  his  method  of  relief, 
without  which  he  might  have  gone  out  of  his  mind, 
and  certainly  would  not  have  been  able  to  accom- 
plish anything  like  the  amount  of  work  which  he 
did.  It  is  the  popular  supposition  that  most  of 
Lincoln's  stories  were  original,  but  he  said.    'I  have 


ANECDOTES  103 

originated   but   two   stories    in    my   life,    but   I    tell 
tolerably  well  other  people's  stories.'  " 

The  stories  Lincoln  told,  and  the  anecdotes  about 
him,  are  so  closely  related  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  try  to  separate  them.  They  are  here  re- 
lated with  no  special  regard  to  sequence. 

It  is  said  that  during  the  darkest  days  of  the 
war  a  party  of  prohibitionists  called  on  Lincoln  and 
urged  with  him  that  the  reason  why  the  North  did 
not  win  was  because  the  soldiers  drank  so  much 
whiskey.  With  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  Lincoln  replied, 
"That  seems  very  unfair  on  the  part  of  the  Lord, 
for  the  Southerners  drink  a  great  deal  worse  whiskey 
and  a  great  deal  more  of  it  than  the  soldiers  of  the 
North." 

"Stop  Your  Boat — I've  Lost  My  Apple!" 

One  day  a  farmer  from  the  backwoods  came  to 
the  President  to  tell  him  that  the  soldiers  had 
stolen  some  of  his  hay,  and  he  wanted  his  claim 
paid  at  once. 

"Why,  my  good  sir,"  said  Lincoln,  "if  I  should 
attempt  to  consider  every  such  individual  case,  I 
should  find  work  enough  for  twenty  Presidents," 
and  to  illustrate  his  point  he  told  the  following  story : 

"In  my  early  days  I  knew  one  Jack  Chase,  who 
was  a  lumberman  on  the  Illinois,  and,  when  steady 
and  sober,  the  best  raftsman  on  the  river.  It  was 
quite  a  trick  twenty-five  years  ago  to  take  the  logs 
over  the  rapids,  but  he  was  skillful  with  a  raft,  and 
always  kept  her  straight  in  the  channel.  Finally  a 
steamer  was  put  on,  and  Jack — he's  dead  now,  poor 
fellow ! — was  made  captain  of  her.    He  always  used 


104  LINCOLN 

to  take  the  wheel  going  through  the  rapids.  One 
day,  when  the  boat  was  plunging  and  wallowing 
along  the  boiling  current,  and  Jack's  utmost  vigilance 
was  being  exercised  to  keep  her  in  the  narrow  chan- 
nel, a  boy  pulled  his  coat-tail  and  hailed  him  with, 
'Say,  Mister  Captain!  I  wish  you  would  just  stop 
your  boat  a  minute — I've  lost  my  apple  overboard !'  " 

The  Swearing  Driver. 

On  another  occasion  a  poor  man  from  Tennessee 
was  waiting  at  the  White  House,  and  General  Fisk 
took  him  in  to  see  the  President.  The  man's  son 
was  under  sentence  of  death  for  some  military 
offense.  Lincoln  heard  him  patiently,  took  his 
papers,  and  said  he  would  look  into  the  case  and 
report  the  following  day. 

''To-morrow  may  be  too  late!"  cried  the  man 
tragically,  and  the  streaming  tears  told  how  much 
he  was   moved. 

"Come,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "wait  a  bit,  and  I'll 
tell  you  a  story" ;  and  then  he  told  the  old  man 
General  Fisk's  story  about  the  swearing  driver,  as 
follows : 

When  Fisk,  then  Colonel,  organized  his  regiment 
in  Missouri  he  proposed  to  his  men  that  he  should 
do  all  the  swearing  for  the  regiment.  They  agreed, 
and  for  a  long  time  he  heard  of  no  violation  of  their 
promise. 

The  Colonel  had  a  teamster  named  John  Todd, 
and  as  the  roads  were  in  very  poor  condition  this 
teamster  had  difficulty  in  driving  his  team  and  keep- 
ing his  temper  at  the  same  time.    One  day  he  hap- 


ANECDOTES  105 

pened  to  be  driving  his  mule-team  through  a  series 
of  particularly  bad  mud-holes,  when,  unable  to  re- 
strain himself  any  longer,  he  burst  forth  with  a 
volley  of  most  energetic  oaths.  When  the  Colonel 
heard  of  it  he  called  John  to  account. 

"John,"  said  he,  "didn't  you  promise  to  let  me  do 
all  the  swearing  for  the  regiment?" 

"Yes,  I  did,  Colonel,"  he  replied,  "but  the  fact 
is  the  swearing  had  to  be  done  then  or  not  at  all 
and  you  weren't  there  to  do  it." 

The  old  man  was  so  much  amused  he  laughed 
heartily,  and  then  the  President  wrote  a  few  words 
on  a  card  which  brought  tears  to  the  old  fellow's 
eyes,  for  the  life  of  his  son  had  been  saved. 

"Glad  of   It." 

When  the  telegram  from  Cumberland  Gap  reached 
Lincoln  that  "firing  was  heard  in  the  direction  of 
Knoxville,"  he  remarked  that  he  was  "glad  of  it." 
Some  person  present,  who  was  thinking  intently  of 
the  peril  of  Burnside's  army,  wanted  to  know  why 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  "glad  of  it." 

"Why,  you  see,"  responded  the  President,  "it 
reminds  me  of  Mrs.  Sallie  Ward,  a  neighbor  of 
mine,  who  had  a  very  large  family.  Occasionally  one 
of  her  numerous  progeny  would  be  heard  crying  in 
some  out  of  the  way  place,  upon  which  Mrs.  Ward 
would   exclaim, 

"  'There's  one  of  my  children  that  isn't  dead  yet* " 

The  Coon  That  "Got  Away." 
Toward  the  end  of  the  war  some  gentleman  who 


106  LINCOLN 

visited  Lincoln  at  the  White  House  asked  him 
"what  he  would  do  with  Jeff  Davis." 

"There  was  a  boy  in  Springfield,"  replied  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, "who  saved  up  his  money  and  bought  a  coon, 
which  after  the  novelty  wore  off  became  a  great 
nuisance. 

"He  was  one  day  leading  him  through  the  streets, 
and  had  his  hands  full  to  keep  clear  of  the  little 
vixen,  who  had  torn  his  clothes  half  off  him.  At 
length  he  sat  down  on  the  curbstone,  completely 
fagged  out.  A  man  passing  by,  noticing  his  unhappy 
expression,  asked  him  what  was  the  matter. 

"  'Oh,'  said  the  boy,  'this  coon  is  such  a  terrible 
trouble  to  me!' 

"'Why  don't  you  get  rid  of  him,  then?'  said  the 
gentleman. 

"'Hush!'  said  the  boy.  'Don't  you  see  he  is  gnaw- 
ing his  rope  off?  I'm  going  to  let  him  do  it,  and 
then  I  will  go  home  and  tell  the  folks  that  he 
got  away  from  me!'** 

Root  Hog  or  Die. 

At  the  so-called  peace  conference  on  the  steamer 
River  Queen  in  Hampton  Roads,  Feb.  3,  1865,  Mr. 
Hunter,  representing  the  Confederacy,  remarked  that 
since  the  slaves  had  always  worked  under  compul- 
sion, if  they  were  freed  they  would  do  no  work 
at  all,  and  the  South  would  starve,  black  and  whites 
together,  as  no  work  would  be  done.    Said  Lincoln, 

'Mr.  Hunter,  you  ought  to  know  a  great  deal  bet- 
ter about  the  matter  than  I,  for  you  have  always 
lived    under   the    slave    system.     I   can   only   say,   in 


ANECDOTES  107 

reply  to  your  statement  of  the  case,  that  it  reminds 
me  of  a  man  out  in  Illinois  by  the  name  of  Case, 
who  undertook,  a  few  years  ago,  to  raise  a  very 
large  herd  of  hogs.  It  was  a  great  trouble  to  feed 
them ;  and  how  to  get  around  this  was  a  puzzle  to 
him.  At  length  he  hit  upon  the  plan  of  planting  an 
immense  field  of  potatoes,  and,  when  they  were 
sufficiently  grown,  he  turned  the  whole  herd  into 
the  field  and  let  them  have  full  swing,  thus  saving 
not  only  the  labor  of  feeding  the  hogs,  but  that  also 
of  digging  the  potatoes.  Charmed  with  his  sagacity, 
he  stood  one  day  leaning  against  the  fence,  counting 
his  hogs,  when  a  neighbor  came  along. 

"  'Well,  well !'  said  he.  'Mr.  Case,  this  is  all  very 
fine.  Your  hogs  are  doing  very  well  just  now.  But 
you  know  out  here  in  Illinois  the  frost  comes  early, 
and  the  ground  freezes  a  foot  deep.  Then  what 
are  they  going  to  do?' 

"This  was  a  view  of  the  matter  which  Mr.  Case 
had  not  taken  into  account.  Butchering  time  for 
hogs  was  away  on  in  December  or  January.  He 
scratched  his  head  and  at  length  stammered,  'Well, 
it  may  come  pretty  hard  on  their  snouts,  but  T  don't 
see  but  it  will  be  root  hog  or  die!*" 

Daniel  Webster's  Dirty  Hands. 

One  of  the  most  amusing  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  stories 
was   that  of   Daniel   Webster's  hands. 

One  day  Daniel  had  done  something  very  naughty 
in  school,  and  was  called  up  by  the  teacher  to  be 
punished,  the  form  of  punishment  being  the  old- 
fashioned    ferruling   of    the   hands.     His   hands    hap- 


108  LINCOLN 

pened  to  be  very  dirty,  and  out  of  a  sense  of  per- 
sonal shame,  on  his  way  to  the  teacher's  desk,  he 
spit  upon  the  palm  of  his  right  hand  and  rubbed  it 
on  his  pantaloons. 

"  'Give  me  your  hands,  sir,'  said  the  teacher  very 
sternly. 

"Out  went  the  right  hand,  partly  cleansed.  The 
teacher  looked  at  it  a  moment,  and  said, — 

"  'Daniel,  if  you  will  find  another  hand  in  this 
school  as  filthy  as  that,  I  will  let  you  off  this  time !' 

"Instantly  from  behind  his  back  came  the  left  hand. 
'Here  it  is,  sir,"  was  the  ready  reply. 

"  'That  will  do,'  said  the  teacher,  'for  this  time; 
you  may  take  your  seat,  sir.'" 

Miscellaneous   Anecdotes. 

Quite  as  characteristic  of  Lincoln  as  his  stories, 
are  the  anecdotes  of  his  witty  and  humorous  remarks 
on   various  occasions. 

He  was  greatly  pestered  by  the  office-seekers  but 
he  never  refused  to  see  them,  saying  "They  don't 
want  much  and  get  very  little.  Each  one  considers 
his  business  of  great  importance,  and  I  must  gratify 
them.  I  know  how  I  should  feel  if  I  were  in  their 
place."  And  when  he  was  attacked  with  varioloid 
in  1861  he  said  to  his  usher,  "Tell  all  the  office- 
seekers  to  come  and  see  me,  for  now  I  have  some- 
thing that  I  can  give  them." 

Mrs.  McCulloch  and  other  ladies  called  at  the 
White  House  one  afternoon  to  attend  a  reception 
by  Mrs.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Lincoln  said  laughingly  to 
them, — 


ANECDOTES  109 

"I  am  always  glad  to  see  you,  ladies,  for  I  know 
you   don't   want   anything." 

Mrs.  McCulloch  replied,  "But,  Mr.  President,  I 
do  want  something;  I  want  you  to  do  something 
very    much." 

"Well,  what  is  it?"  he  asked,  adding,  "I  hope  it 
isn't  anything  I  can't  do." 

"I  want  you  to  suppress  the  Chicago  Times  be- 
cause it  does  nothing  but  abuse  the  administration," 
she  replied. 

"Oh,  tut,  tut !  We  musn't  abridge  the  liberties 
of  the  press  or  the  people.  But  never  mind  the 
Chicago  Times.  The  administration  can  stand  it  if 
the  Times  can." 

On  another  occasion  he  went  to  examine  a  newly 
invented  "repeating"  gun,  which  was  peculiar  in 
that  it  prevented  the  escape  of  gas.  After  the  in- 
spection, he  said, 

"Well,  I  believe  this  really  does  what  it  is  repre- 
sented to  do.  Now,  have  any  of  you  heard  of  any 
machine  or  invention  for  preventing  the  escape  of 
gas    from  newspaper  establishments?" 

One  day  he  was  complaining  of  the  injustice  of 
Mr.    Greeley's    criticisms    when    a    friend    suggested, 

"Why  don't  you  publish  the  facts  in  every  news- 
paper in  the  United  States?  The  people  will  then 
understand  our  position  and  your  vindication  will 
be  complete." 

"Yes,"  said  Lincoln,  "all  the  newspapers  will  pub- 
lish  my   letter   and   so   will   Greeley.    The  next  day 


110  LINCOLN 

he  will  comment  upon  it,  and  keep  it  up  in  that  way 
until  at  the  end  of  three  weeks  I  will  be  convicted 
out  of  my  own  mouth  of  all  the  things  he  charges 
against  me.  No  man,  whether  he  be  a  private  citizen 
or  President  of  the  United  States,  can  successfully 
carry  on  a  controversy  with  a  great  newspaper  and 
escape  destruction,  unless  he  owns  a  newspaper 
equally  great  with  a  circulation  in  the  same  neighbor- 
hood." 

One  day  a  handsome  woman  called  at  the  White 
House  to  get  the  release  of  a  relative  who  was  in 
prison.  She  tried  to  use  her  personal  attractions  to 
influence  the  President.  After  a  little  he  concluded, 
as  he  afterwards  said,  that  he  was  "too  soft"  to 
deal  with  her,  and  sent  her  over  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment with  a  sealed  envelope  which  contained  a  card 
on  which  he  had  written,  "This  woman,  dear  Stan- 
ton, is  smarter  than  she  looks  to  be." 

To  another  woman,  whom  he  suspected  of  coming 
to  the  White  House  on  a  pretext,  he  gave  a  note  ad- 
dressed to  Major  Ramsey,  which  read, — 

"My  Dear  Sir:  The  lady — bearer  of  this — says 
she  has  two  sons  who  want  to  work.  Set  them  at 
it  if  possible.  Wanting  to  work  is  so  rare  a  merit 
that  it  should  be  encouraged.  A.  Lincoln." 

When  a  delegation  of  clergymen  called  to  urge 
the  appointment  of  one  of  their  number  as  consul  to 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  on  the  ground  that  he  was  sick 
and  needed  the  change,  Lincoln  questioned  the  man 
closely  as  to  his  symptoms  and  then  remarked, 


ANECDOTES  111 

"I  am  sorry  to  disappoint  yon,  but  there  are  eight 
other  men  after  this  place,  and  every  one  of  them 
is  sicker  than  you  are." 

A  party  of  friends  from  Springfield  called  at  the 
White  House  one  day  and  told  the  President  what 
an  elaborate  funeral  had  been  given  to  a  certain 
Illinois  politician  who  was  noted  for  his  vanity  and 
love  of  praise.  After  listening  to  the  end  Lincoln 
remarked, 

"If  Jim  had  known  he  was  to  have  that  kind  of  a 
funeral  he  would  have  died  long  ago." 

When  a  deputation  called  upon  the  President  to 
criticize  certain  features  of  his  administration,  he 
responded  as  follows: 

"Gentlemen,  suppose  all  the  property  you  were 
worth  was  in  gold,  and  you  had  put  it  in  the  hands 
of  Blondin  to  carry  across  the  Niagara  River  on  a 
rope:  would  you  shake  the  cable  and  keep  shouting 
to  him,  'Blondin,  stand  up  a  little  straighter — Blondin, 
stoop  a  little  more — go  a  little  faster — lean  a  little 
more  to  the  north — lean  a  little  more  to  the  south?' 
No,  you  would  hold  your  breah  as  well  as  your 
tongue,  and  keep  your  hands  off  till  he  was  safe 
over. 

"The  government  is  carrying  an  immense  weight. 
Untold  treasures  are  in  our  hands.  We  are  doing 
the  very  best  we  can.  Don't  badger  us.  Keep  quiet, 
and  we  will  get  you  safe  across." 

Lincoln    also    had    a    strain    of    severity    in    him. 

Once  an  officer  attacked  General  Sherman,  calling 

him  a  bully  and  a  tyrant,  unfit  to  command  troops. 


112  LINCOLN 

Lincoln  quietly  asked  if  he  had  any  grievance.  The 
officer  replied  that  General  Sherman  had  accused 
him  of  some  misconduct  and  threatened  to  shoot 
him  if  it  occurred  again. 

"If  I  were  in  your  place,"  remarked  the  President 
in  a  confidential  whisper,  "I  wouldn't  repeat  that 
offense,  because  Sherman  is  a  man  of  his  word." 

Lincoln's  instinctive  love  of  a  joke  appears  very 
clearly  in  his  humorous  remark  on  hearing  of  the 
capture  of  a  brigadier-general  and  twelve  army  mules 
near  Washington, — 

"How  unfortunate !  I  can  fill  that  general's  place 
in  five  minutes,  but  those  mules  cost  us  two  hundred 
dollars  apiece." 

The  President's  last  story  before  his  assassination 
was  that  of  how  the  Patagonians  eat  oysters.  Ward 
Lamon  had  called  to  ask  the  President  to  sign  a 
pardon  for  an  old  soldier  convicted  of  violating  the 
army  regulations. 

"Lamon,  do  you  know  how  the  Patagonians  eat 
oysters?"  suddenly  asked  the  President  as  he  held 
the  pen  in  his  hand  to  write  the  pardon. 

"I  do  not,  Mr.  Lincoln,"  responded  Lamon. 

"It  is  their  habit  to  open  them  as  fast  as  they  can 
and  throw  the  shells  out  of  the  window,  and  when 
the  pile  of  shells  grow  to  be  bigger  than  the  house, 
why,  they  pick  up  stakes  and  move.  Now,  Lamon, 
I  have  felt  like  beginning  a  new  pile  of  pardons,  and 
I  guess  this  is  a  good  one  to  begin  on." 

7395-2-39 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

973  7L63BL638E  C001 

AN  EVENING  WITH  LINCOLN  ROCHESTER,  NY. 


3  0112  031788158 


